Card Captor Sakura: The Next Quest
by CCSZER0
Summary: It's been years since all the Clow Cards were captured, but when Sakura and the gang move to Tokyo to start their new life in college, whole new challenges arise in both love and magic! Please R&R!
1. Sakura and Her New Friends Part I

Disclaimer:

I don't own any of the main characters in this story. Any original characters or ideas I suppose are my own, but whatever. All the main characters belong to their respective owners, for example Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, Gundam Wing belongs to Sunrise, Ranma ½ belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, and Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi. If this disclaimer isn't satisfactory, basically all I'm saying is please don't sue me.

**Card Captor Sakura: The Next Quest**

By CCS-ZERO

Chapter 1: Sakura and Her New Friends

Tomoeda, Japan

"Sakura! Sakura! Sakura!" yelled Kinomoto Fujitaka from downstairs in an attempt to wake his soundly sleeping daughter. "It's time to get up! You don't want to be late for your first day at school!"

"Yeah Sakura, you're gonna be late," chided a yellow stuffed animal looking creature who was jumping on Kinomoto Sakura's pillow in an attempt to rouse the teen from her deep state of sleep.

"I'm awake. Stop jumping on my pillow Kero-chan," mumbled a barely conscious Sakura as she rolled onto her back, her eye-lids fluttering open to reveal her emerald green eyes beneath. "What time is it anyway?"

"It's almost eight o'clock. Tomoyo and the Gaki will be here any minute now."

"Oh no! Kero-chan, how could you let me sleep so late!" whined a now very awake Sakura as she ran to the bathroom to take a quick shower. "And Syaoran is not a Gaki!" yelled Sakura back from the bathroom.

"I've been trying to wake you up for the past half hour, but you sleep so deeply that I couldn't!" responded a defensive Kero. Five minutes later Sakura rushed out of the bathroom and started getting dressed. "You're lucky you set out your clothes last night or you would be in real trouble." The night before, Sakura's best friend Daidouji Tomoyo had helped her pick out what she believed was the perfect outfit for the orientation day at her new school. Now fully dressed, Sakura took a look in the mirror at was quite pleased at the results. Although she always felt that her friend Tomoyo was much more beautiful than herself, she still liked how she looked in her pink sleeveless shirt that hugged her upper body and white mini-skirt with matching white knee socks and a pink ribbon in her short auburn hair to finish the outfit. With her ever-present smile on her face, Sakura bounded down the stairs hoping to grab a quick bite to eat before her friends arrived, praying that they would account for the fact that she was always late.

"Yay! Pancakes! With maple syrup! My favorite!" screamed an ecstatic Kero as he zoomed down the stairs to the breakfast table.

"Good morning Kero. And good morning to you too honey," greeted Kinomoto Fujitaka, giving a kiss on the forehead to his one and only daughter. "Do you have time for breakfast? I made some pancakes for you to celebrate your first day of college."

"Hai! Well, I hope I have time," answered Sakura as she sat down at the table and started chewing on a pancake. Kero was already in the process of stuffing a third pancake into his little mouth, without bothering to swallow the first two making his head expand to about twice its normal size. As Sakura was finishing her first pancake, she heard the doorbell ring. Assuming it would be Tomoyo and Syaoran, she quickly said goodbye to her father and gave him a hug before racing to the front door, only to find her older brother Touya already there.

"Good morning Touya," greeted the ever cheerful Daidouji Tomoyo.

"Hello Tomoyo-san," greeted Touya with a smile. He then turned and saw who Tomoyo was with and his smile turned into a frown. "And what are you doing here Li?"

Knowing Li Syaoran and Kinomoto Touya didn't get along at all, Tomoyo responded before Syaoran had a chance to say anything. "We're here to get Sakura to go to orientation."

"You already knew that Oniichan. I told you that yesterday," said Sakura as she walked up and greeted her friends.

"I still don't like the idea of this Gaki going to the same school as you kaijuu. He's nothing but trouble," remarked Touya, as he glared at Syaoran.

"Stop it Oniichan. Syaoran is not a Gaki, and I am not a kaijuu! Come on Kero-chan, it's time to go," called out Sakura.

Kero flew out of the kitchen, with half of a pancake still hanging out of his mouth. "Before we go," started whining Kero, "Can we have some pudding, please?"

"Kero! You just ate a dozen pancakes! But if you get into my backpack now, so we can go, I promise I'll get you some pudding later."

"Yay! Thank you Sakura!" cheered Kero as he flew into Sakura's backpack.

"Ok, we'll be going now. Bye Oniichan!" called out Sakura as she grabbed her stuff and walked out the door. Once outside, she gave Tomoyo a friendly hug and said hello to Syaoran with a beautiful smile. After loading her luggage into Syaoran's sports car, Sakura got into Tomoyo's new car and with Kero safely stowed away in Sakura's backpack, the group made their way to Tokyo and their new school and the beginning of their new lives.

Author's Notes:

Welcome everyone to my story! I hope you all think it is good, or at least decent. I like all feedback, whether it be positive or negative, but if you have something bad to say about my story, please be gentle. Anyways, as for the summary, this story takes place mostly in the Card Captor Sakura timeline. It is set in the future when Sakura and friends are all going off to college. At college they meet characters from Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing, and Ranma ½. The storylines from the other series, except Gundam Wing, all work as they normally do in the real anime, but they aren't really mentioned much. For the most part I only used the characters from those series'.


	2. Sakura and Her New Friends Part II

Tokyo, Japan

"Welcome incoming freshmen! I am the Chancellor of this University, and it is my honor to welcome you all to the first year of your career here at our school!" Cheers and clapping rang out from the crowd of eager students. "Now, I want to give you the opportunity to meet some of your fellow classmates, so please introduce yourselves to the others around you and enjoy the party!" With another round of applause, the Chancellor left the podium and the students began talking among themselves, introducing themselves to their new classmates and friends.

"Ami, this is going to be so much fun!" giggled the bubbly blonde Aino Minako. "I can't wait to meet all these new people. And there are so many cute guys too!"

"Don't you ever have anything else on your mind Minako?" The blonde just grinned in response to blue haired friend's question. "It is exciting being here with all our new classmates, but I just wish the others were here with us too."

"Don't worry about them. Usagi, Makoto and Rei are all out doing what they wanted to do. I'm sure they are having a blast where they are," consoled Minako trying to make her friend feel better. "Now, let's go meet some new people!" And with that final statement, Minako grabbed Ami by the hand and started taking her from one group of people to the next. As the girls worked their way around the room, Minako noticed two guys standing alone in the corner of the room. Both were lean and approximately the same height with serious expressions on their faces and in Minako's eyes, both were very cute. "Come on Ami. I see two gorgeous hunks over there. Let's go!" Dragging Ami with her, Minako walked up to the two guys and introduced herself with a smile. "Hi. My name is Aino Minako, and this is my friend Mizuno Ami."

One of the guys, dressed in black pants and matching black jacket with light brown hair styled in a long braided pony tail answered the cute blonde with a smile of his own. "It's nice to meet you Aino-san, Mizuno-san. My name is Duo Maxwell, and this silent statue to my left --" Before Duo could finish the other boy gave him a stare that would send most people running for their life. "Sorry, sorry," apologized Duo before his friend could do anything rash.

"Heero Yuy. Pleasure." While Heero still stood unmoving, Duo gave both Ami and Minako a friendly handshake and hello.

"Uhh, it's nice to meet you Yuy-kun," greeted Ami in a slightly shaken voice. Heero didn't move a muscle when Ami reached out her hand for a greeting, leaving the beautiful genius speechless and confused. Ami looked over the boy, from his slightly rustled brown hair to his lean, chiseled form. He was dressed in light blue jeans, a green shirt, and a blue jacket. His face showed no sign of any existing emotion, with his deep cobalt blue eyes that seemed like they could look right through a person and the lack of even a quiver in any of his facial muscles. However, despite Heero's cold exterior which came off as heartless, emotionless, even mean, Ami still sensed some type of inner strength and kindness to him, and it made him seem a little mysterious, and that mixed with his great physique was quite appealing to the new freshmen. Not knowing what else to do, since Heero wasn't talking, Ami looked to her friend who she discovered seemed to be getting along quite well and having a friendly discussion with Duo. Just as she turned back to try again to initiate a conversation with Heero, three more people walked up and introduced themselves.

"Hi. I'm Kinomoto Sakura," greeted a cute auburn haired girl a little shorter than Ami. "This is Daidouji Tomoyo," said Sakura as she gestured to a girl slightly taller than herself with dark hair down to the small of her back. Tomoyo gave everyone a bright smile as Sakura introduced her. "And this," as Sakura motioned to the other person accompanying her, "is Li Syaoran." Li gave a slight nod of recognition at the mention of his name.

"It's nice to meet you," answered Ami with a smile. "My name is Mizuno Ami." Ami gave a friendly handshake to each of her three new classmates.

"I'm Aino Minako."

"I'm Duo Maxwell."

"Heero Yuy."

Duo and Minako greeted the newcomers with handshakes and smiles, and Heero, true to character simply stood by and idly watched with no sign of emotion on his face. "So where are you three from?" inquired Minako.

"We are all from Tomoeda. We have been friends since elementary school," answered Tomoyo with a smile. "And you? Where are all of you from?"

"Well, Minako and I are from here in Tokyo. We met in junior high school and we, along with three others, have been inseparable since. The rest of our friends, however, decided to go to school other places, so it's just the two of us left in Tokyo," answered Ami, with a hint of sadness in her voice. As Ami was silently missing her friends, she also took the opportunity to look over her new ones. Tomoyo was a very beautiful girl. She almost made Ami feel a little insecure about herself, as Tomoyo possessed not only a very striking body; she also had one of the most beautiful voices Ami had ever heard. Even though she hadn't heard Tomoyo say all that much so far, she could tell Tomoyo must have had a wonderful singing voice as well. She was wearing what Ami judged to be a quite expensive designer outfit of a white blouse and blue skirt. Her dark blue hair was down to the small of her back, and at the moment was merely brushed nicely, but allowed to flow freely. Sakura, on the other hand, didn't possess the same striking beauty her friend did, but she was still stunning herself. She had more of a cute beauty to herself, as opposed to the runway model beauty. Her pink and white outfit was a great contrast to her sparkling emerald eyes. She had a gorgeous smile on her face, and her entire essence radiated cuteness and innocence. Sakura reminded Ami of a little sister she never had, and figured she would very much enjoy getting to know her better. As Ami's observations turned towards Syaoran, her first thought was that he looked a lot like Heero. Similar to Heero, Syaoran was lean and fit, and had a very serious look on his face. He had slightly rustled brown hair, and was dressed in khaki pants, a green shirt, and a brown jacket. The main difference between Syaoran and Heero was that, Heero had those piercing cobalt blue eyes, while Syaoran had deep amber ones. Syaoran's outside demeanor seemed cold and heartless, like Heero, but Syaoran's eyes gave him away. He didn't have a threatening glare in his eyes, but instead, his eyes were filled with a look of kindness and friendship. Ami figured that he was probably very gentle and kind beneath his rock-hard exterior and she mentally told herself that she was going to find out someday.

At the same time Ami was studying Sakura, Tomoyo, and Syaoran, Sakura was doing the same to the four people standing in front of her. Both of the guys had a similar physique, but they weren't alike at all. Duo was smiling and chatting away, while Heero didn't talk, didn't smile, and practically didn't move. Similar to Syaoran, the two of them had perfect bodies. They were lean and very handsome, although Sakura had always liked strong and silent guys best so she found Heero a little more attractive than Duo. She figured that is the reason why she liked Syaoran so much. The girls were also very attractive physically. Sakura started to feel a little jealous. Both Ami and Minako were extraordinarily beautiful, and Sakura felt that they were a lot more physically matured than herself. Sakura was now not only a little bit self-conscious about her best friend being more beautiful than herself, but these two new classmates of hers were just a beautiful as Tomoyo. Minako had long blonde hair, a bubbly personality, and a body most girls would kill for. She was wearing a short yellow mini-skirt and matching top. Her sparkling blue eyes were lovely and her smile was one of genuine happiness. Minako reminded Sakura a lot of Tomoyo, just with different color hair. Ami was also quite beautiful, although she was a little more modest about it. She didn't seem quite as outgoing as Minako, although she was still very friendly. Her short blue hair accentuated her perfect skin complexion and her cute smile and very pretty eyes. She was wearing a blue skirt and light blue shirt, matching her eyes and hair. Sakura could only assume that blue was Ami's favorite color.

Just as Ami and Sakura finished analyzing their new classmates, Duo gave them a little background on where he and Heero were from. "Heero and I have known each other for roughly three years now. We both travel a lot, but for the last year we have been staying at the residence of Princess Relena Peacecraft of the Sanc Kingdom." As Duo continued to talk about living with Princess Relena, Heero stood back, staying quiet as always. However, unlike usual, Heero wasn't telling himself that he wasn't emotionally involved. Instead he was concentrating on the girl standing in front of him talking with his fellow Gundam pilot. He couldn't understand why, but this enchanting girl wearing the pink tank-top and mini-skirt had his mind whirling. While her body was quite attractive, it wasn't that which had Heero so on edge, but it was her eyes which had totally captivated him. He stared at her sparkling emerald green eyes that looked so pure, so innocent, almost like she didn't have a care in the world. He couldn't help himself; he was left completely off balance from his normal senses by this girl, Kinomoto Sakura.

As the orientation continued, the group readily chatted away with each other about everything from their past to what they want to do in the future. Ami and Minako described each of their friends from high school, expressing their sadness at the fact that they were no longer together with Usagi, Rei and Makoto. They did skip the part about being the Sailor Senshi and having magical powers, but they figured they didn't want to make their new classmates think they were weird. Duo mostly talked about what it was like living with Princess Relena, and also told the group about their fellow Gundam pilots, although he left out the Gundam part. He merely described each and how Trowa was back at the circus, Quatre was living as the head of the Winner family business once again, and Wu-Fei was out training and becoming stronger as always. The girls would occasionally ask Duo and Heero about their pasts', but Duo would cleverly change the subject or dodge the question, and Heero opted to merely not respond to anything directed his way. As Sakura and Tomoyo were just starting to tell everyone about their friends from back home in Tomoeda, they heard a voice call out to them.

"Well, well. If it isn't my dear descendant! What a surprise to see you here," called out a boy with dark purple hair and glasses.

Ami was a little confused at how anyone could be a descendant of this boy who looked to be about their same age. As she turned to look at the newcomer, she noticed Syaoran grimace out of the corner of her eye, but before she got a chance to say anything, Sakura and Tomoyo greeted their classmate.

"Eriol-kun!" together exclaimed Sakura and Tomoyo. "What are you doing here? We thought you were still in London."

"Well, I decided to come to Japan and attend this University. I had no idea you two were here, or that my dear descendant over there was here as well," replied Eriol, giving a grin to a glaring Syaoran.

"Eriol, this is Aino Minako, Mizuno Ami, Duo Maxwell, and Heero Yuy," said Sakura, introducing their new friends to their old childhood companion. "They are all going to school here as well. And everyone, this is Hiiragizawa Eriol. He used to go to school with us in Tomoeda back in elementary school. He's been living in London for the last few years however."

"It is a pleasure to meet all of you," greeted Eriol with a smile. "Especially two ladies as lovely as yourselves," he continued as he gave both Ami and Minako a gently kiss on the hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well," replied Minako with a giggle.

"Yes, it is. Although I do have one question," said Ami. Eriol looked at her and raised his eyebrows and nodded for her to continue. "Well, unless I'm mistaken, you called Li-kun your descendant. Why is that?"

"Ha, ha. Well, that is actually a long story. Almost like an inside joke you could say. I'll tell you all about it some other time," Eriol responded with a grin. Ami was still a little confused and curious, but nodded and decided not to press the issue.

With the new addition to the quickly expanding group of friends, everyone continued to talk with each other and to the random other freshmen that happened to stop by their group and introduce themselves. Some catching up was done between Eriol and the rest of the group from Tomoeda, and descriptions of their friends they left back home were given to their new classmates. The group found themselves very much enjoying the company of each other, even though Heero didn't talk and Syaoran still had on a sour face from seeing Eriol once again. Soon, morning became afternoon, and another member of the school's faculty made his way up to the podium. He made an announcement that each student was to go pick up their room assignments so they could go unpack and get settled. The group exchanged cell phone numbers so they could contact one another after they got settled in their rooms, and after friendly good-byes each went their separate ways.

Author's Notes:

Well, the second part of the first chapter. Just to warn people, this first chapter is going to be really long. The following chapters probably won't be nearly as lengthy, but this chapter includes all the introductions and setting the stage for the rest of the story.


	3. Sakura and Her New Friends Part III

Tokyo, Japan

Sakura and Tomoyo left together to pick up their room assignment, already knowing they would be roomed together since they requested it. Both of them had talked about being roommates since elementary school, so when they both decided to go to the same school they jumped at the opportunity to live together. They did split up with Syaoran so he could get his room assignment, but Sakura knew they would see him soon since she had secretly requested he be roomed close by. Sakura had had a crush on Syaoran all through high school. Ever since he had returned to Tomoeda from Hong Kong to help Sakura once again, and had decided to stay for high school, Sakura had been captivated by his strong and silent demeanor and she loved how he had physically matured over the years. However, she never had the guts to say anything since they were good friends and partners in Card capturing.

Much to Heero's dislike, he and Duo had decided to room together as well, since it would limit the number of people the two would encounter on a daily basis, and therefore make it simpler to keep their pasts' a secret. The two guys picked up their room assignments and went to their room. Once they arrived, they realized they had been assigned to a suite. It was a room with two bathrooms, a large common room, a kitchen, and five small bedrooms. When they stepped inside, one of their new suite-mates was already there. As he turned around, both Gundam pilots were surprised, although Heero didn't show it, for their new roommate was actually Li Syaoran.

"Huh. Small world. I guess you are one of our suite-mates," commented Duo after his initial surprise. Syaoran just nodded in response. "Oh boy. This is going to be a real fun year. Not only am I stuck with Mr. No Emotions Yuy over here, but I also have his twin. Our other suite-mates had better be more exciting than you two." With that complaint, Duo dropped his bag and began to unpack his belongings. For the next few minutes, not a single word was said, with the exception of Duo's constant complaining to himself about living with two statues. Some time later, a knock came at the door and a cute red-head girl came into the room wearing a red Chinese style shirt with black pants. Her hair was in a short braided pony tail, and the guys could see that she was slightly damp, as if she had been in the water fairly recently.

"Hi. I'm Saotome Ranma, your new suite-mate."

Duo was shocked. He thought back, and realized that there must have been some type of mistake since there weren't supposed to be any suites with both girls and boys. "I thought the rooms weren't co-ed? Shouldn't you be in a girl's room?" inquired Duo to the newcomer.

With a sigh, Ranma dropped her bag. "Do you have any hot water? I will show you why I am in this suite, and not a girl's room." Duo went to the small kitchen in the suite and got a kettle of hot water and gave it to Ranma. Much to Duo's surprise, the cute red-head turned into a guy right in front of his eyes. Duo was shocked! Even Syaoran and Heero had looks of surprise on their faces for a few seconds before reverting back to their normal expressionless states. Nobody really knew what to say, so Ranma spoke first. "You see, I am really a guy, but I had an accident when I was traveling in China and now when I get splashed with cold water, I turn into a girl."

At the mention of the name China, Syaoran perked up to pay a little more attention. "Where in China did this accident occur?" asked Syaoran with interest.

Ranma looked over at the guy who was speaking. "You know a lot about China?"

"I lived in Hong Kong before I came here to Japan."

"Ahh, it happened in a place called Jusenkyo. I fell into the Nyannichuan, and when I came out, I was a girl."

"Jusenkyo is legend all around China. What were you doing at a place like that?"

"It was all my stupid pop's fault. We were on a training trip and he decided we should go to China where he heard of the 'Ancient Training Grounds of Jusenkyo.' However, unknown to me, he didn't know any Chinese and had no idea what he was doing. So when we got there and started training I fell into the Nyannichuan, and ever since have been cursed with this body which changes into a girl when splashed with water. So I have been trying to find a way to get myself back to normal ever since."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sure you've heard then about how the springs dried up?" asked Syaoran, who got a sad nod in response from Ranma. "Well, if it is any consolation, my family has a lot of pull in China, so if anything comes up, I'll be sure to let you know. By the way, my name is Li Syaoran."

"The name's Duo Maxwell. Glad to meet ya."

"Heero Yuy," stated Heero in a monotone voice before walking back to his room to finish unpacking.

Ranma gave a strange look towards Heero's retreating back, a little surprised at his introduction. Duo answered the question that was floating around in Ranma's head for him. "Don't worry about him. He's always like that. He's the emotionless 'perfect soldier.' Don't pay any attention. He's like that with everyone." Ranma nodded to Duo in acknowledgement. "I don't think I saw you at orientation. Were you standing in the back or something?"

"No. I missed orientation," explained Ranma. "You see, on my way here, some old lady threw a ladle of water on me and changed me into a girl. I was running all around the area trying to find some place where I could get some hot water and turn back into a guy, but everywhere on campus was closed since everyone was at orientation. I didn't want to make my first appearance with my new classmates as a girl, so I decided to for-go going to orientation."

"Well, that's certainly understandable," agreed Duo. "It would be confusing to meet you as a girl, and then meet you later as a guy and try to associate the two of you as one person. You know, I'm glad you are one of our roommates. I was afraid you were going to be as boring as Heero and Li," stated Duo as he gestured with his hand towards where Heero and Syaoran were standing a few moments ago. As Ranma turned to look, he realized that Syaoran had disappeared into his room without his even noticing. As he looked back at Duo he saw his roommate lower his head and start muttering to himself once again about living with two statues.

Ranma actually started to laugh at Duo's obvious hatred of being bored. Duo looked up, a little confused as to why his new roommate had all of a sudden started laughing. "Don't worry," explained Ranma between breaths. "My life has always been anything but boring. Trouble and excitement seem to follow me no matter how hard I try to avoid them." Ranma then went on to tell Duo about a few of his more interesting and humorous adventures he experienced while staying at the Tendo Dojo in Nerima, getting an occasional outburst of laughter from him at the more amusing parts of the stories.

As Ranma finished his story about the time his classmate Kuno Tatewaki got a mystical phoenix attached to his head, Duo and Ranma heard a polite knock on the door before a boy with purple hair and glasses walked through the door. "Hey, it's you, Hiiragizawa. What are you doing here?" asked Duo.

"Maxwell, right? I was assigned to this suite," answered Eriol. As Eriol responded to Duo's question, Syaoran decided to pick that moment to walk out of his room. "Well! It would seem that fate is definitely on my side today! I get to be roomed with my dear descendant!" exclaimed Eriol with a laugh. "This is going to be one great year."

"Oh no. Why me?" muttered Syaoran to himself as he dropped his head and slowly walked back into his room.

As Duo watched in amusement at Syaoran's obvious discomfort at having Eriol being one of his suite-mates he couldn't help but to laugh. Eriol looked over at him with a curious expression on his face, and Duo explained what was so funny. "Well, you see, when I first arrived, and saw that I was living with both Heero and Li, I was afraid that this was going to be a really boring year. However, after meeting Saotome here and discovering that you are going to be our fifth suite-mate, I realize that this year will be anything but boring."

Eriol couldn't help but laugh at Duo's conclusion, and he also took note of the other boy standing in the common room, who he failed to notice earlier having been distracted with learning that Syaoran was going to be his roommate. "By the way, my name is Hiiragizawa Eriol," introduced Eriol as he extended his hand towards his new roommate.

"Saotome Ranma," answered Ranma, shaking Eriol's hand. "What was that between you and Li back there?" asked Ranma with a hint of confusion in his voice.

Eriol chuckled lightly and answered Ranma. "Well, it's a long story. But basically, I have been blessed with the unique talent of being able to get on his nerves like nobody else can, and in truth, it is quite fun to do so."

Again, Duo couldn't help but laugh. "Yup, this is going to be a great year." Eriol and Ranma both started laughing along with Duo. As the three got to know one another better, they realized that they had a common ground between the three of them in that they all hated to be bored, and would do almost anything for a little excitement.

Two doors down the hall, Sakura and Tomoyo were beginning to get close to being finished with unpacking when they heard the door to their suite open. They looked to the door ready to greet their new suite-mates, when their mouths faltered. Standing at the door were Mizuno Ami and Aino Minako. "Mizuno-san? Aino-san?" questioned Sakura. "What are you doing here?"

"We were assigned this suite," Ami answered her new friend. "Although we had no idea that you were our suite-mates."

"This is going to be so cool!" giggled Minako. "We're all going to be living together. And since we are going to be roommates there is really no reason for formal titles and such." Minako ran over and gave a still somewhat surprised Tomoyo and Sakura a hug.

"So if you two are roommates, does that mean Li-kun is roomed somewhere around here too?" questioned Ami.

"Well, we aren't quite sure which room yet, but Sakura-chan, requested he be roomed near us," said Tomoyo with a giggle. Sakura elbowed Tomoyo in the ribs lightly for telling their new roommates about Syaoran.

Despite the fact that Ami was a certifiable genius, and definitely physically mature, she was still a little dense when it came to socializing. So, not catching the hidden point in Tomoyo's comment, she asked in a completely innocent voice, "Why'd you do that Sakura-san?"

Sakura just looked down at her feet, and didn't say anything, so Tomoyo took the opportunity to answer for her. "She's had a secret crush on Li for the past four years. She just never had the guts to do anything about it." Tomoyo gave Sakura a playful hug from behind, as Sakura continued to stare at the floor in embarrassment.

"Well," stated Minako. "We'll just have to do something about that, now won't we."

"No, no, no," pleaded Sakura. "I already told myself I wasn't going to tell him, since I don't want to chance making our friendship weird. Besides, I met another guy that kind of sparked my --," Sakura stopped mid-sentence, as she realized she started to say more than she wanted to, and again, turned to look back down at the floor.

At Sakura's mention of another guy, all three girls' attention went straight to the cute auburn hair girl who was starting to blush out of embarrassment. "Hold on. You mean you met another guy already? And you didn't even tell me! I'm your best friend!" complained Tomoyo looking a little hurt. "I'm hurt Sakura-chan! You have to tell me these things. Come on, who is it? When did you meet someone anyway? How long have you been keeping this a secret from me!?"

"I haven't been keeping it a secret from you Tomoyo-chan," replied Sakura a little defensively. "I actually just met him today."

"No way! I've been with you all day! When could you have met a guy --?" Tomoyo stopped mid-sentence when she figured it out. "You're talking about someone you met at orientation, aren't you?" Sakura gave a slight nod of conformation, while still looking downwards so as not to meet anyone's gaze. "Who is it? Come on Sakura-chan, tell me!"

"Yeah Sakura-san," chided Minako. "Maybe we can set you two up! I love setting people up! You can trust us to keep it a secret. We are going to be roommates after all." Sakura continued to stare at the floor saying nothing despite the constant badgering by Minako and Tomoyo.

During the continuous verbal onslaught of questions by Minako and Tomoyo, Ami was using her genius mind to try and deduce who she thought Sakura might like that they met at orientation. She figured that it was probably someone comparable to Syaoran, and from that thought it suddenly hit her. "Come on you guys," said Ami in Sakura's defense as she went over and took Sakura into a protective half hug. "Leave her alone. I'm sure she will tell us when she is ready to." Sakura looked up at Ami with a relieved look on her face, silently thanking her for saving her from further embarrassment. As Ami looked at Sakura, she saw that she was so innocent, so pure, that was impossible not to like her. Ami had a feeling that Sakura and she would probably become really good friends. Realizing they no longer outnumbered her, Minako and Tomoyo stopped pestering Sakura about who her mystery crush was. After Minako and Tomoyo stopped pestering Sakura and started talking with one another as they resumed unpacking, Ami whispered into Sakura's ear. "It's Yuy-kun, isn't it?" Sakura just stared wide-eyed at Ami. She attempted to ask her how she knew, but couldn't get her mouth to work. "Wondering how I know?" asked Ami in a whisper when she saw Sakura was too stunned to speak. Sakura just nodded her head since her mouth was still not working. Ami smiled and answered her question. "Well, you said you liked Li-kun, and so I figured this new guy would most likely be similar to him physically and have a similar personality. So, the person who fit that description best was Yuy-kun." Ami was actually quite proud of herself at having figured out who Sakura liked, since she was usually a little dense when it came to social situations. "Don't worry though; I'll keep your secret safe."

Sakura just stared at her new roommate with wide eyes. _"How did it take so little time for her to figure out that I like Heero? Even Tomoyo-chan didn't figure it out,"_ thought Sakura to herself. Suddenly, the answer came to her. "You figured out that I like Yuy-kun from more than just knowing the fact that I like Syaoran didn't you?" Ami just stared at Sakura in confusion. Sakura gave a slight giggle and at Ami's confusion, and then explained herself. "I know I may not be the smartest person in the world, but I think I have this one figured out. You figured out so quickly that I like Yuy-kun, because you like the same type of guy too, don't you? I bet you have a crush on either him or Syaoran too." Sakura assumed from the look on Ami's face and the fact that she didn't deny her claim, that she was correct. So Sakura giggled once again, and gave Ami a bright smile before she gave her a very friendly hug. Finally getting over her shock, Ami smiled back at Sakura and returned her hug. "Come on, I'll help you unpack your things."

Sakura went with Ami to her room to help Ami unpack, since she was already mostly finished with her own unpacking. As Ami and Sakura were setting up Ami's room, they got to know one another better and found many common traits between the two of them beside the fact that they like the same type of guys. Tomoyo was helping Minako in much the same way as Sakura was helping Ami set up her room. Tomoyo and Minako found that they were comparable with one another in terms of personality and got along with each other very well. Just as Minako and Tomoyo finished making Minako's bed, Tomoyo's cell phone began to ring. "Hello? Daidouji speaking. Oh, hi Li-kun! Are you all finished moving in? Really! Maxwell and Yuy are both your suite-mates? Eriol is your roommate too!? Wow, that's really weird, because Ami and Minako are our suite-mates! No, we haven't met our fifth suite-mate. She hasn't shown up yet. Our room is in Building G on the third floor, Room 317. Really? Ok, then we'll see you in a minute!" Tomoyo hung up the phone with Syaoran and turned to Minako who had stopped putting pictures up on her wall when Tomoyo had finished her conversation. "Guess what! Three of Li-kun's suite-mates are Maxwell, Yuy, and Eriol. And not only that, but they are in the same building, same floor, and only two doors down the hall. They're in Room 315, and the four of them along with their other suite-mate are all coming over to say hi."

"Great!" exclaimed Minako who always liked having company around. "Let's go tell Ami and Sakura." The two girls left Minako's room and went into Ami's room to inform Ami and Sakura of the situation.

"Hey guys," greeted Ami as Minako and Tomoyo walked into her room. "Did you finish setting up your room already Minako?" Ami looked around her room feeling like she was going slowly since she had only unpacked her clothes and made her bed so far since she spent so much time and concentration on her conversations with Sakura.

"No, not quite," answered Minako calming a few of Ami's worries about unpacking too slow. "But Li-kun just called Tomoyo's cell phone and said that he is roomed with Yuy, Maxwell, and Hiiragizawa. Not only that, but they are only two doors down the hall and they, along with their fifth roommate, are all coming to visit!"

"Oh!" suddenly exclaimed Tomoyo. "I almost forgot! I have to go get my video camera so I can get everyone on film." Tomoyo bolted out of the room and into her own room to get her camera before the guys arrived.

"Her video camera?" questioned Ami.

"Hai. She always has her camera plastered to her head so she can tape anything interesting she comes across," answered Sakura. "She wanted to take it to orientation, but the faculty wouldn't let her, afraid it would be broken or stolen and they didn't want to be blamed."

Just then a knock came at the door, and Sakura ran over to open it. Standing in the hall were Duo, Heero, Syaoran, Eriol, and a boy with black hair styled in a short braided pony tail wearing Chinese clothing. Duo, Eriol and the new boy were all smiling, seeming to be having a good time, Heero had the same emotionless face, and Syaoran seemed to be scowling while glaring in the direction of Eriol. "Hi Kinomoto-san, nice to see again," greeted Duo.

"Come on in everyone," answered Sakura. As the boy she didn't know walked by, Sakura introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Kinomoto Sakura."

"Li and Hiiragizawa told me about you. The name's Saotome Ranma. It's a pleasure to meet you Kinomoto-san."

"It's nice to meet you too. This is Mizuno Ami, Aino Minako, and over there with the camera on her head, is Daidouji Tomoyo." Ranma said hello to each person in turn as he looked over each girl there. Sakura seemed very nice and very cute. She reminded him of a little sister. Ami seemed a tiny bit shy, but also quite cute and seemed very nice. Minako was quite attractive as well, but unlike Sakura and Ami she didn't seem shy at all. She was very outgoing and quite friendly. The girl that caught Ranma's eye, however, was Tomoyo. In his mind, her body was stunning, and the half of her face that he could see was quite beautiful. She was very outgoing like Minako, and the way that she tried to capture every moment of the meeting on camera seemed very cute.

While everyone was getting to know Ranma, and the girls were showing the guys around their little suite, Sakura went to get some drinks for everyone. When she had poured nine glasses, she was precariously balancing all the glasses on a small tray, and didn't notice Ranma behind her, so when she turned around, she bumped into him spilling all nine glasses right on him. "Oh no! I'm so sor--." Sakura stopped mid-sentence when she noticed that where Ranma was standing only a second ago, there was now a cute red-headed girl who looked to be wearing Ranma's clothes. Speechless, Sakura just stared at the new comer, not knowing how to react or what happened.

When everyone turned around at the commotion caused by Sakura's spilling of the drinks, Eriol and the three other girls looked dumb-founded as they saw Sakura standing next to a cute girl, wearing the same clothes as Ranma. When the other guys noticed that Ranma had turned back into a girl again when Sakura spilled the water on him, Duo quickly explained what was going on. "Don't worry girls. You see, when Saotome gets cold water spilled on him, he turns into a girl. It's a curse he accidentally acquired when he was training in China at a place called Jusenkyo. Just pour some hot water on him and he'll become a guy again."

Ami, Minako, and Sakura still stood silent, not knowing what to make of the girl who used to be a guy. Tomoyo, however, was quite upset that she didn't catch Ranma changing into a girl on camera, so when she heard Duo say that hot water would make him turn back into a guy, she quickly ran to get some hot water to pour on Ranma. As she splashed him she made sure to catch the whole thing on tape this time, and was quite amazed at the fact that he really did change back into the guy he used to be. Although he was a little wet, there didn't look like there was anything different about the Ranma that stood in the room now, than there was a few minutes earlier before he turned into a girl. Tomoyo was ecstatic that she got to catch such an amazing thing on video. She decided that she liked video taping Ranma almost as much as she liked video taping Sakura, who she considered to be the cutest subject in the whole world. "Wow! That is so cool!"

"It is not cool! I'm cursed with this body because I fell into that stupid spring! There is nothing good about this!" yelled Ranma, since he was a little pissed that already eight people had seen him change into a girl and he had only been at the school a matter of hours.

"No way! I like that you turn into a girl. It makes you more interesting. Most guys are all the same. But you turn into a girl! That is just totally cool!" responded Tomoyo to Ranma's outburst. "And besides, you are almost as cute a girl as you are a guy." Ranma was dumbfounded. This girl actually liked that he wasn't normal. Akane, his ex-fiancée (Since Ranma wanted to go to school in Tokyo, Mr. Tendo approved of Ranma and Akane ending their engagement.) would always call him a pervert since he turned into a girl. The fact that this girl, who was also much cuter than Akane, even liked the part about him turning into a girl was making Ranma like Tomoyo more and more.

As Ranma stood, still thinking about Tomoyo, Sakura came up to him and handed him a towel. "I'm sorry I got you all wet. Here's a towel to dry yourself off."

"It's ok. I should have been paying more attention anyway," said Ranma. "Besides, with this curse I also seemed to have been stuck with bad luck in that now that water will make me change into a girl, I seem to get splashed a lot more often at the wrong times then I ever used to." Ranma then dried himself off as best he could and gave the towel back to Sakura. "Thanks Kinomoto-san."

As the nine sat down in the girls' common room which held two small couches, a few chairs and a table for eating at, they continued to talk amongst themselves. Tomoyo was constantly pestering Ranma about his changing into a girl, getting all his wacky stories on tape in the process. While, Ranma usually would get angry at the continuous line of questions about his curse, he felt happy talking with Tomoyo. He didn't mind being video taped, and actually enjoyed the attention Tomoyo gave him when he was telling her about his different martial arts challenges and the special situations where he had to change into a girl. Ami and Syaoran were talking with one another on the other side of the room. Ami was quite interested in learning about China from Syaoran's point of view, since he was Chinese and lived there for a good portion of his life. Syaoran also told Ami about how he had learned some magic in China. To his surprise, she didn't seem all that surprised to find out that magic existed; however, she was very interested in finding out how his magic worked, from a scientific point of view. From there they discovered that they both like math and science in school and were considered to be smart by their friends. The two had a very nice discussion about their interests in school and science, and generally enjoyed each others company. The remaining five were having a very different type of discussion than the others. Minako and Sakura had teamed up and were both trying their hardest to get Heero to open up and be social, but true to form, he simply sat still and unwavering at the constant stream of questions being thrown at him trying to get a response. Duo and Eriol were also present, Duo making sure Heero didn't scare the girls away with one of his customary death threats, and Eriol entering into the conversation whenever the opportunity presented itself. The two guys were also enjoying the company of the two enthusiastic girls, and were quite entertained at watching the girls pester Heero. Strangely, they felt a little jealous of Heero since the two gorgeous females were giving him all the attention and almost ignoring the two of them. They didn't feel left out though, as Duo was always in the middle of the attention, keeping Heero from saying anything that wasn't appropriate for the two girls to hear, and Eriol occasionally helping the girls get Heero to talk until he gave him one of his death stares. Even if Eriol was the reincarnation of Clow Reed, he still felt on edge after the glare Heero sent his way.

Shortly into the conversations throughout the girls' suite, the new students heard a knock on the door and turned to see it open. Through the open door walked a cute girl wearing dark blue pants and a matching short sleeve shirt. "Hi," greeted Sakura as she was the closest to the door. "You must be our new roommate. I'm Kinomoto Sakura. It's a delight to make your acquaintance."

As Ranma maneuvered to look around Tomoyo at the new girl at the door, he was surprised to see who it was. "Ucchan?" questioned Ranma to the newcomer.

The girl standing at the door moved her head to take a look at the boy who spoke. "Ranchan? What are you doing here?"

"I'm going to this school," answered Ranma. "You are going here too?"

"Uh huh. I just arrived, and was assigned to live in this suite."

"Saotome-kun?" queried Tomoyo. "You know her?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. Let me introduce you," replied Ranma. "Everyone, this is Kuonji Ukyo. She is one of my best friends. We have known each other since we were really young." As Ranma motioned towards the far side of the room he started introducing his new friends to his old childhood one. "Ucchan, over there is Li Syaoran and Mizuno Ami. Li is one of my roommates, and Mizuno-san is going to be one of your roommates. Over there, is Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell and Hiiragizawa Eriol. They are also my roommates. With them is Aino Minako, and you already met Kinomoto Sakura. And this," continued Ranma as he motioned to the girl he was sitting with, "is Daidouji Tomoyo."

"It's nice to meet everyone," greeted Ukyo as she gave a handshake to Sakura, Tomoyo, Minako, Ami, Duo and Syaoran. She giggled a little as Eriol took her hand and gently gave it a kiss as he introduced himself. Not being used to being treated as a woman, since she spent so many years of her life pretending to be a guy, Ukyo found that she enjoyed being treated in such a chivalrous manner. "So where is your room Ranchan?"

"We are all two doors down the hall. So most likely we'll be seeing quite a bit of each other."

With the new addition to the collection of friends, the previously separated small groups of conversations melded into one large group centered in the middle of the girls' common room. As she was the newest addition, Ukyo was the subject of the majority of the conversation and she reminisced about her life before she lived in Nerima, and then about how her life became exponentially more exciting after she moved to Nerima. She told everyone about okinomiyaki and her engagement to Ranma, which the two of them had worked their way around and mutually decided that they didn't really love one another in that way, and more like a brother sister or best friend type of relationship. As the group continued to talk, the afternoon soon became evening, and they all decided to go find somewhere to eat. Even though it was a private school, the campus was very large, and the administration liked to keep the students happy, so on campus there were over twenty different places to choose from. Each student was given a meal plan which consisted of three meals a day that could be used at any of the restaurants on campus. The group decided to go to the place closest to their building, which happened to be a Japanese Ramen House. As they sat down, the seating arrangement had them sitting as if they were five couples sitting together. Ranma was sitting with Tomoyo at one end of the table and the two of them were continuing their conversation they had started earlier in the girls' suite, even though Tomoyo was a little disappointed at allowing herself into being talked into leaving her video camera at the apartment. Next to Ranma and Tomoyo sat Duo and Minako. The two found that they really enjoyed spending time together and were busily talking about what they wanted from their stay at the college and in the future. In the middle of the long table were Eriol and Ukyo. Even though Eriol and Ukyo were practically opposites, they found that they enjoyed being with one another. Ukyo liked being treated in such a chivalrous manner by Eriol's natural charm, and Eriol found that Ukyo's personality was different from most of the other girls he knew, and found it refreshing. Next to Eriol and Ukyo were Heero and Sakura. Sakura was still trying with all her might to get Heero to open up and be social. She figured that if she could get Syaoran to be social at least some of the time, then she should be able to get Heero to as well. Heero would have normally been so annoyed at the girl trying to get him to be social and would have given her one of his customary death threats by now, but he was generally enjoying being around the girl. Her bubbly personality, which normally would have not effected Heero's stone cold resolve, mixed with her completely innocent demeanor, were slowly breaking through Heero's emotional defenses. At the other end of the table sat Syaoran and Ami. The two of them started their conversation about science and school once again, each becoming more impressed with one another in terms of both smarts and personality. After everyone was finished eating, the group decided to split up. Ami and Syaoran decided to go for a walk together on the beach near campus. Minako wanted to take Duo into town to show him all the exciting things to do in Tokyo, and Ranma, Tomoyo, Ukyo, and Eriol decided to join them since they didn't know their way around Tokyo either. They were about to invite Sakura and Heero to join them, but Sakura grabbed Heero, surprising him a bit, and dragged him to go for a walk through the woods. Duo was completely shocked when Heero didn't resist the giggling auburn haired girl's dragging him along for a walk together. But instead of making a big deal of it, he merely laughed to himself and went with Minako and the rest to tour the town.

Author's Notes:

Well, you have now met all the main characters of the story. This story is going to be a mix of both Romance and Action/Adventure. I bet you all think you know who all the couples will be, but don't be too sure of yourself; I might throw in a twist 


	4. Sakura and Her New Friends Part IV

Tokyo, Japan

On the beach, Syaoran and Ami were walking in silence. Since Syaoran was never a particularly social person, and Ami was very shy, the two were standing a good two feet apart. They were both enjoying the feeling of the ocean's breeze and the fresh air of the outdoors. As it started to get late, the air began to become cooler. Since Ami was wearing only a short sleeve shirt, and shorts to match, she got cold rather quickly. When Syaoran looked over and noticed Ami holding her arms across her chest indicating she was trying to warm herself up, he quickly took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. Surprised, by the sudden move by Syaoran, Ami jumped slightly, and then looked at Syaoran and smiling, said thanks. The two continued their walk on the beach; however, they were now standing much closer together. After a while, they picked a spot to sit down and decided to watch the sunset. Sitting in the sand, the two started talking again. The subject of magic once again came up, and Ami asked if it was possible for Syaoran to teach her some magic.

"Well," answered Syaoran, "it isn't as simple as willing to learn. You have to have the ability to use magic in order for you to learn. Many people try to learn magic, but simply don't have the ability to use it."

"Is there a way to find out if someone has the ability to use magic?" asked Ami.

"Yes, there is. Usually magic can be sensed by other magic users, so if you have the ability to use magic, I should be able to sense it within you." With that said Syaoran closed his eyes and channeled his inner magic powers to see if he could detect magic within the cute blue haired girl in front of him. Not knowing what else to do, Ami merely sat still anxiously waiting to see if Syaoran would say she possessed magic ability. She was pretty sure she must have magic using ability since she was Sailor Mercury. Ami figured that when she transformed and used her powers as a Sailor Senshi, there must be some type of magical background. After a minute, Syaoran opened his eyes again and smiled at Ami. She realized that this was the first time she saw his true smile, and she thought to herself that he had a really nice smile and looked very cute. "It seems that you have quite a bit of magic potential in you," said Syaoran. "You have close to as much magical strength hidden dormant within you as Sakura, and according to legend, Sakura has the potential to become the most powerful sorceress in the world."

"Really? Sakura can be the most powerful sorceress in the world? Wow!" Ami's mind was racing. If I am not even as strong magically as Sakura, and the other Senshi are probably about the same strength as me, then Sakura might be up to the same power level as Sailor Moon. Or maybe she really is even more powerful! "What makes her have so much power?" asked Ami.

"Well, I'm not really supposed to tell people this, but can you promise that you won't mention it to anyone?" asked Syaoran. Ami nodded in response, eagerly waiting to find out about Sakura's source of power. "Well, she has the title of Mistress of the Clow Cards. That name probably means nothing to you, so let me explain. She was chosen by fate because of her enormous magic potential to be the one who was charged with the duty of collecting all the mystical Clow Cards. A long time ago, an extremely powerful sorcerer named Clow Reed created a number of Clow Cards. Each card has large amounts of magical energy; however, when released without a master, they have a tendency to cause mischief. My clan back in Hong Kong is one of the few groups who know about the Clow Cards and since I am the future leader of the clan and a direct descendent of Clow Reed, I was sent by the elders to come to Japan and capture the cards. That is how I met Sakura, since she had been chosen, not by a clan, but by fate and the Guardian of the Seal of the Book of Clow. Since you are roommates with Sakura you will probably learn about the Guardian of the Seal. His name is Cerberus, Kero for short. Sakura will tell you all about him some other time, don't worry. But legend has it that the Mistress or Master of the Clow Cards is the sole person in the world with the most potential magical energy laying dormant inside her/him until all the Clow Cards are caught and the magic is awakened. So Sakura and I teamed up as Card Captors and we managed to capture all the Clow Cards. After we finished capturing the Clow Cards, Sakura needed to change them slightly from their original form. You see, since Clow Reed was no longer alive, the cards needed to have a new master, so Sakura had to change the cards so they would feed off her own magic and not that of Clow. Since we have all the cards captured and Sakura has become the new mistress of the cards by changing them all, she has the majority of her power awakened; however, it isn't until she finishes more magical training that she will have complete control over all of her power. I'm sure this is all hard to believe, but I assure you it is the truth."

"Actually," replied Ami, "I'm not as skeptical as you think. You see, I also have a secret. When you were checking to see if I have any magic ability inside me, I already knew the answer was yes. Like you and Sakura, Minako and I live a semi-second life that is secret from most people. You see, we are both Sailor Senshi. I have the ability to transform into Sailor Mercury, and Minako is Sailor Venus. In our Senshi forms we have the ability to use super-natural powers and our physical strength and stamina increase. So I figured that I must have magic powers even in my present state, otherwise I wouldn't be able to transform. I wanted to see if I would be able to use magic even in my normal form, without having to transform."

Syaoran was stunned. He had heard rumors of the Sailor Senshi and their leader Sailor Moon, but assumed it was just a fairy tale. And now, he just found out that his new friend Ami was one of them! "So, you and Aino-san are both Sailor Senshi? Then I assume those other friends of yours you were talking about earlier are also Senshi. So which one of you is Sailor Moon?" questioned Syaoran.

"So I take it that you have heard of us then? Anyway, Sailor Moon is our friend Usagi. You would never guess she is Sailor Moon from just meeting her, but she is quite a remarkable person once you get to know her."

"Well, according to legend, Sailor Moon might be as powerful as the Mistress of the Clow Cards, at least before Sakura has trained enough to gain complete control over her powers. After Sakura has managed to perfect her power usage, I don't think even Sailor Moon will be quite as powerful. But, to answer your question from earlier, I'm sure that you can learn to use magic in your normal form if you try. And if you would like to learn, I would be happy to teach you."

Ami gave Syaoran a smile of thanks and then a thought came to her. "If Sakura is the Mistress of the Cards and it sounds like you are associated with them as well, then does that mean Tomoyo and Hiiragizawa know about the Clow Cards too?"

"Yes, they do," answered Syaoran. "You remember how Tomoyo likes to video tape everything?" Ami nodded an affirmative. "Well, she is a very observant person and she quickly figured out that Sakura had something to hide. Unfortunately, Sakura is simply too kind-hearted and pure and therefore couldn't lie to her. So, from there Tomoyo found out about the Clow Cards, and ever since she has been our unofficial camera woman. She always tags along when we went out to catch the Clow Cards and always video-taped the captures. As for Hiiragizawa, well, he is a little different. He happens to be the reincarnation of Clow Reed, and therefore has much power. He doesn't have the same amount of power that Sakura has or the same amount of power that the original Clow Reed had which is why the cards couldn't survive on Clow's magic, but he does retain a large amount of Clow Reed's knowledge and a good amount of magical power. From his inherited knowledge, Hiiragizawa probably knows more than any of us about the Clow Cards."

Ami could see that as Syaoran was talking about Eriol, his face turned from being fairly kind looking, into a scowl. She was about to ask him why, when she remembered when they first met Eriol. As Ami was thinking about it she began to giggle. This fact was not missed by Syaoran who gave her a peculiar look. "Sorry. I was just remembering at orientation when I first met you and Hiiragizawa-kun. He called you his descendent and I didn't understand why. Now I get it." Syaoran just shook his head and placed it in his hands before looking up at the smiling Senshi. He knew she didn't mean any insult and was just enjoying herself, and since being with Ami was making his feel quite happy himself, he smiled back and the two sat in the sand watching the sun go down below the horizon in peace.

In the city, Minako was pulling Duo in every which direction to show him her favorite hot spots in the city. The two had separated from the company of Ranma, Tomoyo, Eriol and Ukyo once they reached downtown, allowing each couple to do what they pleased. After showing Duo her favorite shops and hang outs, she brought him to a club she had frequently been to, and liked the atmosphere of the place. Since Duo's personality didn't include any type of self consciousness, he went along happily. Both Duo and Minako liked to have the attention of those around them, as well as always needing to be having fun. As they entered the place, Duo realized why Minako spoke so highly of it. The music was loud, although not so deafening that it was uncomfortable. The lighting was perfect, a good mix of color and movement, making the whole place feel alive, and while it was crowded, it wasn't so packed that it was impossible to walk. Minako quickly grabbed Duo by the hand and led him to the dance floor. Once she had found a good spot, she began to move her entire body to the rhythm of the music, eager to have as much fun as she could. After taking a moment to collect himself, and to watch Minako's gorgeous body move, Duo started to dance in sync with Minako. The two of them both turned out to be great dance partners and were soon tearing up the floor, getting cheers from the other people around them. About an hour into the night, a guy came up to Duo and Minako and pushed Duo out of the way. Despite Minako's resistance, the guy forced Minako to close dance with him, grinding up against her in a manner that very much displeased the blonde. They guy was fairly big, and looked to be quite strong. After shaking his head to clear it from the unexpected push to the ground, Duo got up and pulled the guy off Minako. "Just what do you think you are doing?" asked Duo.

"What do you think?" answered the guy. "I'm dancing with the girl since I am the best looking guy here. She should be honored to dance with me."

Duo started laughing at the guy. "You think you are the best looking guy here? More like the biggest jerk. She obviously doesn't want to dance with you, so why don't you beat it." Duo turned his back to the guy and looked to Minako. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Hai. I am now. Thank you."

Angry at Duo for telling him off, the guy tried to punch Duo in the back of the head. However, from all his training as a Gundam pilot, Duo was expecting something and easily dodged the blow. He turned back to the guy. "What do you think you are doing now? The girl didn't want to dance with you, so just leave before something bad happens to you."

"And what do you think you can do to me shrimp?" taunted the guy. Duo was quite a few inches shorter than the guy and there was an obvious weight difference. In fact, Duo was relatively skinny.

"Believe me; you don't want to piss me off any more than you already have, so if I were you, I would just walk away." With that said Duo again turned his back to the guy and gave his attention back to Minako. Even angrier at being talked back to twice, the guy again tried to punch Duo in the back of the head. However, instead of merely ducking out of the way this time, Duo turned in one lighting fast motion and blocked the punch. Duo surprised the bully with the quick move, and took advantage of his shock. Using his heal, he kicked out the foot of the bully, then quickly took the off balance guy and effortlessly threw him from the dance floor, displaying an amazing amount of strength for a person who was so lean. After taking care of the bully, Duo once again turned back to Minako, who gave him a hug of thanks. Enjoying the feeling of Minako's body pressed against his, Duo started to blush ever so slightly. With the problem solved, the two got back to dancing and acted as though nothing had happened. The couple stayed at the club without further confrontation for a while longer, having a great time and almost always being the center of attention while they were on the dance floor.

After Duo and Minako went their own separate way, Eriol, Tomoyo, Ranma, and Ukyo went exploring around downtown without any type of destination in mind. Shortly into their explorations of Tokyo, Eriol and Ukyo decided to split up with Ranma and Tomoyo as they were tired of looking in shops at new fashion designs and electronic stores that Tomoyo was intrigued by. Ranma decided to stay with Tomoyo both for her protection and because he enjoyed being around the cheerful dark haired beauty. After leaving Ranma with Tomoyo, Eriol and Ukyo found their way to a nice park in the city. The two found a large tree and sat against its trunk while watching the stars come out one by one. Even though the two had sat together at dinner, there was still a lot about each other they did not know. Ukyo was quite interested in learning about what it is like in other countries of the world from Eriol since he had gone on many travels. Eriol told her mostly of England where he spent most of the last few years after living in Tomoeda with Sakura and the others. For a reason Ukyo could not explain to herself, she was feeling very strange when with Eriol. She felt more girly than ever before, even when she believed Ranma was her true love and her fiancé she had never felt how she did when she was with Eriol. As for Eriol, he rather enjoyed talking about his life as a normal person. Most of the people he knew were more interested in him as Clow Reed's reincarnation than as him as a person, however, Ukyo was interested in him as a normal person. After a while, the pair decided to walk through the park along a path near the tree they were presently occupying. They walked for several minutes before they came to a small stream in the park with a wooden bridge crossing over it. The two stopped at the center of the bridge to look down at the stream as the water flowed beneath them, both feeling very relaxed in the natural surroundings. Unfortunately, the peace didn't last very long.

"You know it is very dangerous to be walking around alone at night," said a voice from the darkness. As Eriol and Ukyo turned towards where the voice came from, they saw a group of about a half dozen people walk out of the shadows. Each member of the new group was dressed in baggy clothing and each had either a mean grin or a frown on their face. They noticed that a number of the gang members seemed to have a weapon. Ukyo and Eriol turned to walk back across to the other side of the bridge, when they saw that another group of similar looking men were standing at the other end of the bridge blocking their escape. Both were slightly bothered, although not overly so since they had both been in more serious problems before.

In a voice that sounded more annoyed than scared, Eriol addressed the gang. "We would appreciate it if you would just leave us alone. What do you want from us?"

"Well to start we'll take all your valuables, and maybe we'll take that cutie you are with as well," replied the same man who spoke before with a grin. From the way he carried himself, Eriol assumed he was the leader of the gang.

Ukyo got a little more frightened at the tone of the leader's voice and moved a little closer to Eriol for protection. "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you," responded Eriol in his customary calm voice. "But I have no intention of giving you any valuables, and I'm especially not giving you Kuonji-san." As Eriol verbally defended her, he placed a protective arm around her to try and give her some form of comfort.

"That's what you think! Get them. Make them pay for their insolence!"

The men charged in from both sides with weapons drawn and fists up, ready to fight. At seeing the gang start to attack, Eriol began to chant. "Key that Holds the Power of Darkness. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Eriol Command You Under Contract. Release!" With a bright flash of light a staff with a sun on the end appeared in Eriol's hand. The attacking gang members stopped in shock from Eriol's trick. "This is the last time I am going to warn you. Leave now and no harm will come to you." Not heeding Eriol's warning, the gang resumed their attack. With a twirl of his staff around himself and Ukyo, Eriol unleashed a blast of physical and mental energy which sent every member of the gang sprawling on the ground knocking them all unconscious. The only remaining gang member still standing was the leader who spoke earlier. "Now, I highly suggest you leave us alone and never bother others again," stated Eriol to the gang leader. With a look of pure horror on his face, the leader turned and ran full speed away from Eriol and Ukyo. Once they were alone again, Eriol recalled his staff and turned to Ukyo with a look of concern on his face. "Are you alright, Kuonji-san?"

After getting over her initial shock over the events in which just took place, Ukyo responded to Eriol. "I'm fine, thanks to you. How did you do that?"

Eriol was a little upset at having to show his magic abilities to Ukyo already. He was enjoying spending time with her without her knowing about his magic power and his being the reincarnation of Clow Reed. "It's a long story," explained Eriol. "But basically I am the reincarnation of a very powerful sorcerer and so I inherited a portion of his magic power and knowledge. I'm sorry for not telling you before, but to tell you the truth, I was generally enjoying spending time with you without you knowing about my 'other' side."

"I was enjoying myself as well Hiiragizawa-kun. But you didn't need to hide any part of yourself from me. If you were intentionally trying to be something that you aren't then I wasn't spending time with the real you. But either way, I was really having a good time with you, until those thugs over there showed up anyway." Ukyo smiled at Eriol to emphasize her point. "And if it is ok with you, could you please call me Ukyo? I never did like being called by my formal name."

Ukyo's obvious comfort with him made Eriol feel much better. "As you wish Ukyo-san. As long as you call me Eriol." The two smiled back at each other to finalize their newly formed friendship and possibly more. After a couple minutes of silence standing atop the bridge, the couple decided that it was getting late and they started to head back to their apartment complex.

Ranma and Tomoyo were exploring downtown with no particular destination, but enjoying themselves none the less. Before they separated from Eriol and Ukyo, Tomoyo was having the group stop at a number of fashion boutiques and electronic stores. Tomoyo was always looking at the new fashion styles for ideas on designing new clothes for her favorite model, Sakura, and for new camera models that had more advanced features than the one she presently owned. Ranma didn't have any places in particular he wanted to stop at, so for the most part he just followed Tomoyo into the different stores she wished to visit. He had no problems going to the clothing and electronic stores since he got to see Tomoyo enjoying herself to no end and seeing her like that made Ranma happy for a reason he still couldn't quite comprehend. Eventually it got late and all the stores began to close. Without any more stores for Tomoyo to peruse, the couple started walking aimlessly around town, talking with each other but not doing much else. Even at the late hour the streets were still filled with people as Ranma and Tomoyo began to realize why people said that Tokyo never sleeps. The two kept talking with each other without incident until they realized they had walked a good distance from downtown and were now in an area with little lighting and almost no people. Tomoyo wasn't used to being out late walking the streets without the presence of her bodyguards and began to get a little nervous. She had convinced her mother that she didn't need her bodyguards while in college, but was still uneasy from the lack of light and presence of people. Tomoyo grabbed onto Ranma's arm for protection to ease her feeling of concern. As they turned around to head back toward downtown, two rather large men stepped in front of them. Both looked to weigh at least 250 pounds and had mean grins across their faces.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" said one of the men with a slight chuckle. "It looks like you two have lost your way."

"Yeah," added the second man. "But don't worry; we will help you find your way back to downtown. All you have to do is give us all your money and we'll point you in the right direction."

Tomoyo was quite scared at the threat of the two brutes in front of her and she grabbed onto Ranma tighter. Ranma, on the other hand, wasn't intimidated at all. He protectively guided Tomoyo behind him as he smirked at the two men. "If you want my money, then come and take it if you can," taunted Ranma. As Tomoyo heard Ranma taunt the two men she looked up at his face and saw his smirk. He looked back down to her with a 'do not worry about anything' look in his eye. Seeing his confidence, Tomoyo relaxed slightly, already knowing for some reason that Ranma had full control of the situation.

"You asked for it punk!" screamed the first man as he charged the couple. Ranma easily ducked out of the way of the punch from the charging brute, carefully escorting Tomoyo away from the danger. After his first attack failed, the man came at Ranma with a kick. Ranma easily jumped out of the way, doing a flip over the man's head in the process. As the man was turning around, Ranma delivered a series of kicks up the man's torso and face, instantly knocking the man unconscious. Seeing his friend get beat so easily by Ranma, the second guy got very angry. He pulled out a knife and charged at Ranma, arms flailing. Again, with ease, Ranma ducked out of the way and then counter-attacked with a series of lightning fast punches that had the man buckle over in pain. When the fight was over, Tomoyo walked over to Ranma and took his arm again and the two walked off leaving the muggers lying on the ground in agony.

"Wow! That was great!" exclaimed a very excited Tomoyo. "When you hit that second guy, how did you get so much power into just one punch?"

"Well, it wasn't actually one punch," explained Ranma. "It was really a series of about 100 punches striking in the exact same spot. It's a technique I learned from this old ghoul back in Nerima. It's called the Kachü Tenshin Amaguriken."

"Really? I didn't even see your arm move."

"Well, I've developed a few martial arts tricks from all the weird fights I've had to go through back home. The Kachü Tenshin Amaguriken is just one of the moves I learned to deal with a specific situation."

"Do you think you can teach me some martial arts sometime? That way, if I'm ever in trouble I won't need someone to protect me."

"Sure. I would be glad to." Ranma gave Tomoyo a grin and then added, "although I kind of like protecting you." Tomoyo lightly punched Ranma on his arm and then smiled back at him. The two went back to downtown, with Tomoyo still hanging onto Ranma's arm and continued to walk around without any more trouble for the rest of the night.

Out in the woods, Sakura was still trying as hard as she could to get Heero to open up, and to her delight, she seemed to be succeeding. Slowly but surely, Heero was talking more and Sakura could have sworn she saw the start of a smile forming on his handsome face. As the two continued their walk the air began to grow cold and Sakura began to wish she had been wearing warmer clothing. As she was about to cross her arms in an attempt to warm herself up, she felt something on her shoulders. Looking up, she saw Heero gently placing his jacket on her shoulders in a gesture of kindness she did not expect from the emotionless boy. After a moment of wonder, Sakura gave Heero a bright smile, her eyes twinkling, and her angelic face lighting up in glee. The sight was too much for Heero to bear, and the corner of his mouth went up and into a half smile. At seeing Heero's semi-smile Sakura's face brightened even more, and she grasped Heero behind the neck and hugged him. While Heero didn't return Sakura's display of affection by hugging her back as most people would, he at least didn't push her away as his normal first instinct would have been. After the two separated, Sakura looked as if she was about to say something, when she all of a sudden snapped her head around and started looking in all different directions. What Heero didn't know, was that Sakura had become alert all of a sudden because she sensed a strong magical presence. Sakura was confused about more than the direction of the magical presence. She was almost positive the feeling felt like a Clow Card, but she knew that couldn't be possible since she and Syaoran had captured and changed all of the Clow Cards a number of years ago and for the most part had been living their lives like normal teenagers. She had kept up the practice in sharpening her magical skills, but she had done that more as an excuse to spend extra time with Syaoran than because she expected to use her magic skills in any real life situation. Sakura was becoming more agitated and slightly afraid as she worked to find out what was out there and where it was. At seeing Sakura's uneasiness, Heero asked if she was alright.

"It's hard to explain," answered Sakura. "This may sound crazy but I felt a magical presence nearby." As she said the last part, Sakura looked up at Heero expecting him to look either really skeptical or surprised. To her disappointment, however, Heero still showed no sign of emotion on his face.

"What do you mean a magical presence?" asked Heero.

"Well, I can sense beings that possess certain types of magical power. I'll explain everything afterwards, but right now there is something here with strong magical energy and the power signature feels very familiar. I don't think it is possible for the power to be what I think it feels like, but I don't know what else it could be. However, if my feeling is right then I need to find and capture the source of the magical power." Sakura then took her star pendant she wore around her neck and chanted, "Key that Hides the Power of the Stars. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Sakura Command You Under Contract. Release!" In a burst of light, Sakura's pendant transformed into a wand with a base that had a yellow star inside a pink circle with small white wings on each side..

"Very impressive Kinomoto-san."

"Thanks!" giggled Sakura, almost forgetting about the possible Clow Card that was around somewhere. Just as Sakura regained her train of thought, bringing her attention back to the magical presence, some strange colored mist appeared in front of the pair. As they stared at the new phenomenon in front of them, the mist transformed into the shape of a person. The new figure was tall and muscular, with hands and feet taped in a kickboxing style. After a moment of thought, Sakura said to Heero, "I know it isn't possible, but I'm sure that it is a Clow Card!" Not getting any type of response out of Heero, as she expected, Sakura began to think of a strategy of how to defeat the card. Since she had no idea what this being was capable of, she didn't know what would be the best method of dealing with the situation. Unfortunately, before Sakura could think of anything, the card attacked. With lightning fast speed, the card launched a series of punches and kicks directly at the beautiful Card Captor. Sakura was taken completely by surprise and was frozen in place, not knowing what to do. She hadn't been in an actual situation where she needed to use her limited martial arts skills in a long time and had only been practicing her magical powers, so she didn't know how to deal with this physical onslaught. Luckily for her, Heero was very used to physical fights and he quickly pulled Sakura out of the way of the flying punches and kicks. Unfortunately his efforts weren't completely effective, since to his surprise, the fighter's arms extended right in front of his eyes and a punch landed solidly in the stomach of the vulnerable Kinomoto Sakura. As the punch hit Sakura a dim glow surrounded the hand of the attacker and spread throughout Sakura. The cute Card Captor doubled over in pain from the blow to her stomach. As the girl was falling to the ground, Heero caught her and gently laid her down before turning his attention to the one guilty of assaulting the emerald eyed wonder. Despite the fact that his face still showed no sign of emotion, Sakura could see a glimmer of hatred forming in Heero's cobalt blue eyes as he stared at the offending figure. At seeing the Card Mistress helpless on the ground, the Card turned its attention to Heero and charged him with powerful punches. In one swift movement, making sure to take into account that the arms of the attacker could extend, Heero dodged the attack by the fighter and delivered a powerful kick to the head without breaking stride. Despite the fact that Heero's physical appearance was not that of someone who was very strong, his fighting skills were very well tuned so his attacks were much more powerful than anyone would guess. After the one spinning kick to the head, the Card was out cold. Seeing his opponent down for the count, Heero went to Sakura's side, picking her up and carrying her in his arms. She asked him to take her over to the knocked out fighter and when they arrived at the comatose figure Heero put Sakura down, allowing her to stand while supporting her with his arm. Sakura brought up her wand and chanted "I Sakura, Mistress of the Cards Command You. Return to Your True Form. Clow Card!" As Sakura brought her wand down onto the comatose figure a bright light appeared and the figure transformed into a card. When Sakura saw the card, she knew it looked very familiar. Suddenly, it came to her. The card was the exact same as the Power Clow Card, with two exceptions. Most noticeable was that the back of this new Clow Card was completely black instead of the brown color of the Clow Cards or the pink color of her changed Sakura Cards. The second difference was instead of saying 'Power' on the front of the card, there was the word 'Drain'. The card floated over to Sakura's hand she took the card and put it in her pocket. As she transformed her wand back into her pendant, the last of Sakura's energy finally left her and she started to fall towards the ground. Heero caught the falling girl before she could hit the ground and picked her back up again. While in Heero's arms, Sakura reached up and wrapped her arms around the boy's neck and leaned her head on his shoulder, just relaxing at the feeling of warmth and comfort resulting from being in Heero's arms. In the comfort of Heero's arms, Sakura soon fell into a light sleep as Heero continued to carry her back to campus.

Author's Notes:

We've reached the point where Sakura has encountered the first bit of Action/Adventure in the story. If you are looking for a story that has like tragedies and cliff-hangers, you are reading the wrong story cause I can't seem to bring myself to write bad things happening to my main characters. Please continue reading, Chapter 1 is almost complete.


	5. Sakura and Her New Friends Part V

Tokyo, Japan

When Heero and the sleeping Sakura arrived back at the girls' suite, they found Ami and Syaoran already there, talking on the couch. Heero was inwardly glad at the fact that Duo wasn't back yet, for he would have bothered Heero for days upon end about the position he was in with Sakura sleeping peacefully wrapped in his jacket in his arms. Upon entering the room, Syaoran quickly rushed over asking what was wrong with Sakura.

"We ran into something Kinomoto-san called a card," explained Heero. "She said something about feeling a magic presence and then this mist turned into a humanoid shaped figure and attacked us. I was attempting to keep Kinomoto-san out of the reach of the figure, but somehow its arms extended and one punch hit her directly in the stomach. When it hit her there was also this odd glow that surrounded her and she collapsed. I managed to take out the figure and then Kinomoto-san chanted something and the figure turned into a card. It's in her pocket and I assume it is the Drain Card or something since that is what it said on the front."

"Is he talking about a Clow Card?" questioned Ami as she walked up to the group. "I thought you said you and Sakura-san captured all the cards?"

"Well," answered Syaoran, "it sounds like she caught the Drain Card, although I've never heard of such a card before. I have no knowledge about any cards other than the ones we have already caught and I was told that we have all of them. Maybe Hiiragizawa or Kero know about this new Clow Card."

While Syaoran was thinking about the new Clow Card, Heero took Sakura into her room. As he looked around the room, Heero thought it very much reflected her personality. The pink sheets and blanket on her bed, the cute posters and pictures up on the wall, and the many various stuffed animals placed all around the room was a perfect representation of her adorable and innocent nature. Suddenly, one of Sakura's stuffed animals came to life and flew up in front of Heero's face. "What do you think you are doing to Sakura!?" the stuffed animal screamed at Heero. Heero didn't answer. Instead he just looked curiously at the little yellow stuffed animal with the small white wings that was floating in front of his face. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" yelled the stuffed animal again.

Suddenly, Syaoran and Ami came bursting into the room. The two heard the screaming and came running. "Kero!" exclaimed Syaoran. "It's ok Kero. He's a friend."

"And I'm supposed to trust you're word Gaki!" screamed Kero who was very upset that his beloved Card Mistress was obviously injured and therefore he wasn't thinking straight. "What did he do to Sakura?"

"You must be Cerberus," greeting Ami cheerfully in an attempt to calm Kero down. "I'm Mizuno Ami. I'm one of Sakura's new roommates. Li told me about you."

Kero looked at the girl who introduced herself. Her smiling face reminded him a little of Sakura. She seemed to be a sweet girl who generally cared about other people. This cute girl's kindly demeanor who was apparently one of Sakura's new roommates managed to calm Kero's anger to a manageable level. "It's nice to meet you Mizuno-san. Just call me Kero." Now that Kero was calmed down he was able to take a much more sensible approach to finding out what happened to his Mistress. "So what happened to Sakura?" asked Kero in a much calmer voice than before.

"She was attacked by a Clow Card," explained Syaoran. "I actually wanted to talk to you about how that was possible anyway, so how about you just come out to the living room so we can let Sakura get her rest. By the way, that is Heero Yuy. He is one of my new roommates. He defeated the Card that attacked Sakura."

As Syaoran, Ami, and Kero left Sakura's room, Heero took Sakura over to her bed and laid her down. He carefully removed her shoes and unwrapped her from his jacket, making sure not to wake her up from her peaceful looking slumber. As Heero was pulling the covers over the sleeping beauty, Sakura woke up ever so slightly, tugging on Heero's jacket until he let go and then she hugged it to her chest and drifted back to sleep. Heero stayed behind for a few minutes, just watching the sweet angel sleeping in her bed. He watched over her as a protector from all evils that would wish to hurt the beauty in front of him.

Out in the living room, Ami, Syaoran, and Kero were talking about what happened to Sakura and Heero. "So Kero, I was under the impression that we had captured all the Clow Cards. What is this Drain Card that Yuy and Sakura-san just captured?" asked Syaoran.

"I hate to admit it," replied Kero, "but I have no idea what the Drain Card is. I've never heard of such a Clow Card and as far as I know you two have captured and changed all the cards Clow Reed created. I wish Yue was here, maybe he would know about this new Card."

"Oh wait. I almost forgot to tell you, Kero, but Hiiragizawa is also one of my roommates. If anyone would know about this new Card, he should."

"Eriol is here? Well, then I guess we should ask him when he gets back."

Ami was listening quietly as Syaoran and Kero were discussing the possible origin of this new Clow Card. Eventually her curiosity reached a peak and she spoke up. "Li-kun? How exactly did you and Sakura go about capturing the Clow Cards?"

"Well, first we had to find the different Clow Cards. It usually happened that the cards would find us as they are normally attracted to the Book of Clow and the Mistress or Master of the Cards. Then the goal is to defeat it in battle using either physical or magical attacks, depending on the card. The actual capturing act is done with Sakura's wand. Have you ever noticed the pendant she has around her neck?" asked Syaoran.

Ami thought for a second and then answered. "Yes, I did notice that earlier. But I thought you said Sakura uses her wand. That pendant is so small and it doesn't resemble a wand at all."

"Well, what Sakura does is she chants an ancient incantation and the pendant will transform into the capturing wand. The head of the wand looks similar to the shape of her pendant. I have a similar tool that corresponds with Sakura's pendant. My pendent can transform into a sword, which I use for capturing cards when she isn't there to use the wand. I'll show you my sword transformation some other time. I don't want to disturb Sakura's sleeping by releasing so much magical energy." Ami nodded in understanding of Syaoran's worries. At that moment, Heero walked out of Sakura's room, and started toward the door.

"Is Sakura ok, Yuy-kun?" asked Ami before Heero could leave.

Heero turned to his new blue haired acquaintance and answered. "She's sleeping but I think she will be alright in the morning." After answering Ami's question, Heero opened the door, ready to start back toward his own suite.

"I should get going too," stated Syaoran as he got up. "I'll see you tomorrow Mizuno-san?"

"I'll be looking forward to it," replied Ami with a small cute smirk at the corner of her mouth. "And Yuy-kun, don't worry, I'll look after Sakura to make sure she's okay." Heero nodded in thanks and then he and Syaoran took their leave and headed back to their own suite. As Heero was leaving, Kero thought to himself that there was something about Heero that he couldn't explain. When Heero and Syaoran left, Kero flew into Sakura's room to watch over and protect his Mistress. Ami casually followed Kero into Sakura's room to make sure she was alright.

Back in the guys' suite, Syaoran asked Heero if he wanted to go do some training. The two went downstairs to the workout room which provided much open space for training. The two started out with hand to hand combat practice. Syaoran attacked with his Chinese style martial arts consisting mostly of many jumping and spinning kicks and punches. His style was both fancy as well as effective, although Heero managed to block or dodge each and every one of his attacks. Heero's attack style was very different from Syaoran's. Heero attacked in a very straightforward way. He wasted no energy on excess motion in his attacks, allowing his attacks to be at peak efficiency. However, even with no wasted movement in his attacks, Heero couldn't get a single blow to land. The two continued to spar for quite a while, both trading blows, but never getting a solid hit in. After a while, the two decided to switch to weapons training. Heero, who was trained in countless numbers of weapons styles, decided on a Japanese Samurai Sword as his weapon of choice. As he was waiting for Syaoran to pick his weapon, he saw the Chinese boy take hold of his pendant he wore instead of heading towards the weapons rack. Curious as to what his sparring partner was about to do, Heero just stood by watching as Syaoran closed his eyes in deep concentration. All of a sudden Syaoran's pendant transformed into a sword with the same orb at the base of the handle as Syaoran's pendant. The transformation reminded Heero of how Sakura had called upon her wand from her own pendant.

"Impressive," commented Heero. "Is that similar magical power to that of when Kinomoto-san transforms her pendant into her wand?"

"It is a slightly different magic, although it serves basically the same purpose," answered Syaoran.

Heero nodded in understanding of the nature of Syaoran's magical weapon. Both men were men of honor, and therefore nothing needed to be mentioned about Syaoran's use of magic against a non-user. The two started their fencing, although this time there was one who was superior to the other in the use of the sword. Because of Syaoran's constant sword use in both training and fights with the Clow Cards, he had a noticeable advantage over Heero. Heero was quite skilled in all basics and many advanced techniques with the sword, but compared to Syaoran's complete mastery of the sword, Heero was definitely outclassed. The two went at it for many rounds of fencing, with Syaoran defeating Heero in almost each match. Afterwards, there were no hard feelings, as Heero and Syaoran began to understand each other a little better since they discovered they had a very similar warrior personality. After cleaning up and showering in the locker room attached to the gym, Heero and Syaoran went back to their suite. Upon arriving they saw that Ranma, Duo, and Eriol were all back from downtown and Kero had made his way over from the girls' suite.

"So Yuy," greeted Ranma. "I heard you had a little magical run-in when you were out with Kinomoto-san tonight. Tomoyo told me all about the Clow Cards and Kinomoto-san and Li's card capturing quest, and Mizuno-san and Kero here, told us all about what happened to you earlier. I take it you are alright though?" Ranma's question was answered with a nod from Heero.

"I also hear that you have been looking after Kinomoto-san personally," teased Duo. "Who would have thought that there was a girl who could get through that perfect soldier exterior of yours? By the way, Mizuno-san asked us to tell you that Kinomoto-san is doing fine. She's still sleeping, but she seems to be completely fine so there is no need to worry." Heero showed no response to Duo's teasing, as was how he normally dealt with the troublesome Gundam pilot. Inside, Heero was glad to hear that Sakura was going to be fine; however, without the innocent girl present, Heero had no reason to let his emotional shield down.

As Duo continued to tease Heero in regards to his treatment of Sakura, Syaoran got down to business. "Kero, did you and Hiiragizawa figure out what the new card was?"

"Well," answered Kero. "From what we can tell, this new Drain Card seems to be a part of a new deck of cards. According to Eriol the only deck created was the one Sakura already possesses."

"I do have one theory, however," added Eriol. Syaoran looked at Eriol, waiting for him to continue to explain himself. "Well, every time Clow Reed created one of the Clow Cards there was always a large excess of magical energy. He could never account for where the extra energy went; however, his best hypothesis was that the extra energy might have accumulated and formed itself into another set of cards. The reason this would happen was because the magical energy Clow Reed was using was directed into creating physical entities, therefore the extra energy would naturally form into a similar physical form. There are a few differences between the original set of Clow Cards and this new possible deck. Most importantly, these new cards will most likely be much more powerful than the Clow Cards you already have captured. This is because during the creation process a lot more power was lost than was actually transferred into the cards. Secondly, there is no way to determine what types of powers these new cards will possess. Most likely the powers are at least slightly similar to one of the cards in the original deck since that would be the type of power that was released. Most likely this new Drain Card was created at the same time that Clow Reed created one of the original Clow Cards, although I'm not sure why it wasn't until now that the new cards decided to show themselves."

"Maybe we should wait until the morning when Sakura is well again before we continue to discuss this," commented Kero.

"Kero's right," agreed Syaoran. "We should figure all this out tomorrow, when Sakura has regained her strength. We don't start classes for a couple more days anyway, so we have time." Heero was the first to leave the common room upon seeing that he wouldn't learn anything more since the conversation seemed to be complete and he was beginning to get very annoyed at Duo's continuous stream of jokes about himself and Sakura. Syaoran left a moment later, eager to leave the company of Eriol before he could find a way to get on his nerves once again. Kero and the remaining three students looked to one another and shrugged and then went to their own rooms with Kero deciding to stay with Eriol instead of going back to the girls' suite and risking waking up Sakura.

Two doors down the hall, Ami was explaining what she knew of the situation involving Sakura and the new Clow Card to Tomoyo, Minako, and Ukyo. "I still can't believe I missed a new card!" complained Tomoyo, who was having a hard time accepting that she missed an opportunity to video tape her best friend in action. "Even if Sakura-chan didn't actually defeat the card, I should have been there to tape Yuy-kun's first encounter with a Clow Card. This is so not fair," Tomoyo pouted.

"Oh come on now Tomoyo. I thought you had a great time with Saotome-kun?" consoled Minako.

"I did have a great time with Ranma," said Tomoyo with a smile. "But I still think it's unfair that I missed the Clow Card. Although now I have an excuse to make more battle costumes for Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo totally missed the looks of astonishment on the faces of her roommates. Seeing that Tomoyo was at least happy again, the girls decided not to ask about the battle costumes.

"I'm going to go check on Sakura," Ami told the group as she got up. Ami stopped just inside the door of Sakura's room. As she watched the cute girl peacefully sleep, she instantly felt a little more relaxed. She slowly walked over to Sakura's bed and gingerly placed a hand on Sakura's forehead, making sure she didn't have a fever. Her mother being a doctor was very helpful to Ami for because of her experience, she was easily able to determine that Sakura's breathing and temperature felt normal. After checking Sakura over, Ami sat down on a chair near Sakura's bed so she could just watch the beautiful girl. Watching Sakura sleep so peacefully was starting to make Ami a little tired herself, so she decided to go to her own room and turn in for the night. Upon leaving Sakura's bedroom, Ami saw that Ukyo, Minako, and Tomoyo had all gone to their own respective bedrooms as well. After a quick trip to the bathroom, Ami went into her own bedroom which was adjacent to Sakura's. Several hours later, Ami woke up to a muted sound which sounded almost like mumbling or whimpering. She slowly made her way out of bed and out into the common area, trying to determine the source of the sound. After taking a moment to collect herself, she determined the sounds were coming from Sakura's room. Since her room was the only one of the bedrooms sharing a wall with Sakura's room, she figured she was probably the only one who heard the noises. Ami slowly opened Sakura's door and crept in quietly. She saw Sakura lying in her bed, still clutching Heero's jacket to her chest, although she was whimpering and squirming around quite a bit. As Ami got closer she could see there was a thin layer of perspiration on Sakura's face. She placed a hand on Sakura's head to check her temperature again, but found that it felt normal. She checked her pulse to find that it was a little bit fast; although not so much that it worried Ami at all. Ami got a cloth from the table next to Sakura's bed and gently wiped away the sweat on her face. She then sat on the bed and gently stroked Sakura's hair hoping to calm her down. Ami assumed that Sakura was merely having a bad dream or something so she didn't want to wake her up, but thought it best if she could calm her down somehow. A short time later, Sakura visibly relaxed and shifter her head into Ami's lap. Ami looked down at the once again peacefully sleeping Sakura and a smile crossed her face. The girl was just so cute that Ami couldn't stop smiling even if she wanted to. Not wanting to wake Sakura up, Ami decided to just lean back against the wall and leave Sakura's head in her lap. She did feel a little embarrassed sitting on Sakura's bed with the darling girl's head in her lap wearing nothing but her light blue nightgown. It was made of a thin silk material, making it slightly transparent in sufficient light. Deciding that her slight embarrassment was not worth waking Sakura up over, Ami decided to just relax and let the feeling pass. After she was comfortable once again, her exhaustion crept back up on her and she soon drifted into a calm sleep.

Author's Notes:

The first chapter of Card Captor Sakura: The Next Quest is finally complete! Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed my story. I really appreciate it. Keep reading to find out what happens with the characters and who the 'official' couples will be (I know you think you know who they are, but are you sure you're right?)


	6. Sakura and a Mountain of Trouble Part I

Chapter 2: Sakura and a Mountain of Trouble

Tokyo, Japan

Sakura woke the next morning to find herself in a room that was not her own room at home. She seemed to be still dressed in her same clothes she was wearing the day before and was holding a jean jacket she recognized as the one Heero placed on her shoulders the night before. She also realized that she wasn't alone and turned her head slowly to try to determine who the other person with her was. When she got her head to the right position to see, she noticed her head was in the lap of Mizuno Ami, one of her new roommates. She remembered feeling comfortable with Ami earlier which might explain why she still felt so comfortable in the company her new roommate. As she was turning her head she roused Ami from her sleep and Sakura watched as Ami's eyelids slowly opened allowing Sakura to see her pretty blue eyes. As Ami awoke from feeling Sakura stir in her lap she opened her eyes to see Sakura's captivating emerald green orbs staring up at her. At seeing Ami come to full consciousness, Sakura gave her a bright smile and then sat up. Once sitting up, she got a better view of the girl sitting with her. Sakura blushed slightly at Ami's appearance since she could partially see through her nightgown and noticed that she was not wearing much underneath it. Despite that Sakura also felt that Ami looked very beautiful in her light blue sleepwear, although she figured she must be a little cold as she was sitting atop the blankets on her bed. Sakura offered Ami to get under the covers of her bed with her, and her new roommate gratefully agreed. "Good morning. What happened?" asked Sakura.

"Good morning Sakura-san. I'm glad to see that you seem to be looking well once again," replied Ami with a smile of her own. "What do you remember from last night?"

Sakura took a moment to think before she answered. "I remember walking in the woods with Heero and then I felt umm --," Sakura stopped speaking and gave Ami a curious look.

Ami wasn't quite sure why Sakura stopped talking at first but assumed it was probably because she wasn't sure if she should tell her about her magical powers and the Clow Cards. "It's okay Sakura-san. Li-kun told me all about the Clow Cards and you being the Clow Mistress."

"Really? He is usually so close mouthed about anything having to do with the Clow Cards. Well, in any case, as I was saying before, when I was in the woods with Heero, I suddenly felt a magical presence. At first I was confused because it felt a lot like there was a Clow Card nearby; however, I was under the impression that we had captured all the cards. After that I remember the presence showed itself and attacked us. I remember getting hit and when that happened it almost felt like my energy was being drained from my body. After that, I don't remember much. Do you know if anyone figured out what the presence was?"

"You mean you don't remember anything after you got attacked?" Sakura shook her head indicating that she didn't. "Well, I would suggest you check your pocket then."

Sakura checked the pocket of her skirt and was startled to find a card in it. Sakura took the card out to examine it and was startled to see that it was indeed a Clow Card. Ami looked over Sakura's shoulder, very excited to see the Clow Card since it would be the first one she saw. Sakura noticed Ami looking at the card as well and assumed that it must have been Ami's first time seeing a Clow Card since all the other cards were in her possession. She studied the card and discovered it to look almost exactly like the Power Card. The only two changes were that instead of saying 'Power' on the card, it said 'Drain' and the back of the card was black, not brown, and it didn't have the design on the back that the original Clow Cards had. "How did I get this? I didn't capture it, did I?"

"Well, from what I understand of the situation, Yuy was able to disable the card, but you were conscious enough to do the actual sealing of the card. I guess you must have been so low on energy that you don't remember changing the card from magical form into Clow Card form." Ami took the card as Sakura offered her a closer look. Surprising to her, as she took hold of the mystical Clow Card she could feel the magical energy coming from the card. It was a little confusing to her because she could never sense magical energy in anything else before, especially not in her normal form, but when holding this Clow Card she could swear that she felt something.

Sakura noticed the perplexed look on her new friend's face. "What's wrong Ami-chan?"

"Huh?" Ami looked away from the card and at Sakura. "Oh, it's just that I've never really been able to sense magical energy before, but for some reason I know I can feel the magical force coming from this card."

"Really!?" exclaimed Sakura with a bit of surprise in her voice. "That's great. That means you have magical abilities too!"

Ami was a little shocked that Sakura didn't already know that she had magical power. Then she realized that she had only told Syaoran about being Sailor Mercury, so there wasn't any reason why Sakura should know that she had magical energy. "Well, yeah, I do. Have you ever heard of the Sailor Senshi?"

Sakura thought for a moment. "I think I remember reading about the Sailor Senshi in one of Syaoran's magic research books. The leader is Sailor Moon, right? And she, along with the rest of the Senshi, is supposed to have great magical power. But I thought Syaoran-kun said they were a myth?"

Ami actually laughed at that statement. "No, the Sailor Senshi are quite real. In fact, you now know two of them."

Ami giggled at seeing Sakura in deep thought attempting to figure out who the two Senshi could be. As soon as she heard Ami giggle, Sakura blushed a little realizing that she had slipped into one of her clueless states. "You and Minako-san? You are Sailor Senshi?"

Ami nodded an affirmative. "According to Li-kun, I am not as strong as you are in a magical sense, however, Sailor Moon might be pretty close to your strength."

"So which Sailor Senshi are you?" asked a now very curious Sakura.

"I can transform into Sailor Mercury, and Minako can transform into Sailor Venus. Our other friends we were telling you about earlier are the other Senshi. Rei is Mars, Makoto is Jupiter, and Usagi is Sailor Moon." Ami gave slight pause to let Sakura digest all the new information. "Sakura-chan?" asked Ami. "I was wondering if I could see the other Clow Cards."

"Of course. How about I show you them over breakfast? It's still early so I doubt anyone else is awake yet, but the two of us can go get some food and then I can show you the cards."

"Good idea. We should probably get cleaned up a little first though."

"You're right. You can use my robe if you like, since I assume you would rather not have someone see you dressed as you are if one of the other girls do happen to be awake." Ami blushed a little at Sakura's mention of her rather flimsy clothing. "Although you really don't have to be embarrassed. You look quite beautiful as you are, and I really mean that. It makes me feel a little jealous to tell you the truth. I wish I had a body like yours."

Ami was shocked that Sakura said she felt jealous about her body. "Why would you say that? You are one of the most beautiful girls I have ever met, Sakura. If anything, I am jealous of your body."

"Thanks Ami-chan. That really means a lot coming from you," said Sakura with a smile. "Let's get ready and go eat."

"Hai. I'll meet you out in the living room in a few minutes," replied Ami while she got out of Sakura's bed. "And thank you for letting me borrow your robe. Even if you do think I have a nice body, I still feel a little uncomfortable with others seeing me dressed like this." Sakura smiled back at Ami as she got out of bed herself. Ami put on Sakura's robe and left her room to go get cleaned up and dressed. As expected, Ami found none of the other girls awake when she left Sakura's room. She inwardly sighed graciously that nobody else would see her dressed in her sleepwear.

Fifteen minutes later, both Sakura and Ami exited their respective rooms after each taking a quick shower and changing. Sakura was now dressed in white pants and a cute yellow turtleneck sweater. Her hair had no ribbon in it allowing it to fall naturally along the sides of her face bringing out the natural sparkle in her beautiful green eyes. Ami was dressed almost the same as Sakura, only her sweater was light blue instead of yellow. When the two saw each other they both giggled a little when they noticed they were both dressed almost the same. "So where do you want to eat Ami-chan?"

"Well, I remember seeing a place a few blocks away from here that said they serve pancakes for breakfast. How about we go there?" suggested Ami.

"Sounds good. Kero-chan will be happy if I bring some pancakes back with me. That reminds me, where is he anyway? You guys all met him yesterday while I was sleeping, right?"

"Hai. We met him last night. He's quite nice and he cares for you a great deal. You should have seen how he treated Yuy-kun when he walked in with you lying unconscious in his arms," Ami giggled. "Anyway, Kero decided to stay with Hiiragizawa-kun last night so they could try and figure out what that new Clow Card was and how it was created. I'm sure he'll come see you as soon he wakes up."

Ami and Sakura left the room and headed down the stairs towards the front door. As they passed the workout area they noticed two people sparring inside. Deciding to take a closer look at who might be up at this hour of the morning, they were surprised to see that it was Syaoran and Heero who were practicing with each other. Staying quiet, the two girls sat down near the door of the training room and watched the two guys go at it. Once they were close enough, both girls let out a small gasp. Both guys were only wearing workout pants with no shirts, and the girls could easily see they had perfectly formed bodies. They each had a layer of perspiration on their upper-bodies and sweat was dripping from their damp hair. The girls assumed they must have been working out for quite a while already since it looked like they were going at full speed. The guys didn't look like they noticed their new audience and continued their match. Heero and Syaoran were doing hand to hand sparring and similar to the night before they were about evenly matched. There was a distinct difference between their match last night and their fight at the moment. Previously, neither one was able to land a single decisive blow in their match, however; now, both were landing clean shots every now and then since the two had figured out ways around each other's natural defense tactics. Eventually, the two stopped fighting and appeared to be getting ready to leave when they noticed the onlookers. "Sakura-san? Mizuno-san?" queried Syaoran. "How long have you two been sitting there?"

"Just for a few minutes," answered Ami. "You two are really great. How long have you been down here?"

"We've been here for an hour or so," replied Syaoran.

"How are you feeling Kinomoto-san?" asked Heero in very slightly concerned sounding voice.

"I'm feeling fine now, thanks to you. Thank you for saving me last night, Heero." Heero nodded, disappointing Sakura a little who was hoping for a smile from the usually emotionless boy. "We were about to go out for some breakfast and talk about the Clow Cards a bit. Would you two like to join us?" invited Sakura with a smile.

"Sure, sounds good," agreed Syaoran. Ami and Sakura looked to Heero, and he nodded an affirmative to the invitation. "Give us a minute to get cleaned up and we'll be right back." The two went into the locker room and ten minutes later they both emerged showered and dressed. Ami and Sakura both started laughing when they saw Syaoran and Heero come out of the locker room. The reason they were laughing at the two was because, similar to them, Syaoran and Heero were dressed almost exactly the same. Both were wearing black pants, a T-shirt, and a black leather jacket. The only difference in their appearance was that Heero's shirt was red and Syaoran's was dark green. Neither of the two guys seemed to notice or care that the girls were laughing at them and continued to walk out the door with the two giggling girls behind them. A few steps out the door, the girls got over their giggles and hurried to catch up to the guys. When they caught up to the guys, Sakura took stride with Heero and thanked him again for helping her capture the Drain Card.

"By the way, Syaoran-kun, did you guys figure out what this Drain Card is?" asked Sakura.

"Well, Hiiragizawa came up with a theory. Basically, his theory is that when Clow Reed was creating the original Clow Cards, there was a lot of extra magical energy that was lost in the process. Clow Reed could never figure out where that energy went, but one theory was that it was accumulated into making a sort of second deck of Clow Cards. Let's wait till we can sit down and I'll explain it in more detail." Sakura nodded that she agreed that was the best idea.

"Why were you two up so early this morning anyway?" asked Ami.

"I always wake up around dawn to train," answered Syaoran. "I was trained to wake up that early since I was a kid, so every morning I do a workout when I wake up."

"What about you, Heero?" asked Sakura. "Why were you up so early?"

"I only sleep a few hours each night," stated Heero in a monotone voice. He offered no explanation as to why he only slept a few hours each night and nobody wanted to intrude and ask.

"So how was the sparring match?" asked Ami. "From what I could tell you two seemed pretty evenly matched."

"Yuy is quite an excellent fighter. Our fighting styles are extremely different, but I haven't had such an exhilarating sparring partner since I left Hong Kong." As the four walked to the restaurant they continued to talk to pass the time. When they arrived they found that they were the only ones there since it was still only six in the morning. The group ordered a large stack of pancakes with maple syrup to split between the four of them, plus having some extra to bring back to Kero.

Once the food arrived, they all began eating at a casual pace and Sakura brought out her book with the deck of the now changed Clow Cards and the new Drain Card she had found in her pocket that morning. She gave the deck of Sakura Cards, minus the Power Card to Ami to look at, and gave the Power Card and Drain Card to Syaoran to study. As Heero looked over the shoulder of Syaoran at the Power and Drain Cards, he commented, "These two cards look almost the same. This is the card we captured last night, correct?" Sakura nodded, indicating that Heero was correct.

"They do look the same," agreed Syaoran. "Well, this fits into Hiiragizawa's theory I suppose. He said that each new card was probably created from the excess energy from creating one of the Clow Cards, and therefore would be made of similar magic. This Drain Card was probably made from the extra energy from the creation of the Power Card."

After hearing Syaoran's explanation of the existence of the new deck of Clow Cards, Sakura turned her attention to Ami who was splitting her attention between Syaoran's explanation and her own task of shuffling through the original deck of Clow Cards. After Syaoran was finished explaining about the Drain Card, Ami focused more attention on the cards in her hand. Sakura noticed that Ami had a startled look on her face. "What's wrong Ami-chan?"

"It's strange, Sakura. I can feel the energy coming from each one of these cards. It wasn't just some fluke with that new card; I can actually feel the energy from each of these cards as well. I can even feel which ones of these have stronger magic than the others. Amazingly enough, I think that a lot of these cards feel like they have stronger magical power than that new Drain Card. Especially these two cards," Ami said as she pulled two out from the deck. "These. The Light Card and the Dark Card. These feel extremely powerful."

"Impressive, Mizuno-san," complimented Syaoran. "Light and Dark are the two most powerful cards in the deck. I can see that you do make use of your magical power, even in your normal form."

Heero was a little confused at what was going on, although he didn't show it. He didn't understand why Ami could feel the magical energy of the cards or what Syaoran meant by her normal form. Not liking to be unaware of what was going on, Heero spoke up. "What does he mean your normal form?"

"Huh?" asked Ami, since she forgot that Heero didn't know about her being a Sailor Senshi. "Right. I forgot we didn't discuss this with you before, Yuy-kun. I apologize. What Li-kun was talking about when he refers to my normal form is how I am now. I also have the ability to transform into Sailor Mercury. Minako is Sailor Venus and together along with our other friends we are the Sailor Senshi. If you have never heard of us, it's no big deal, because most people haven't. Anyway, when we transform we gain much magical and physical power. When we get back, I can show you my transformation and maybe what I am saying will make more sense." Heero nodded an ok.

After looking through the deck of Clow Cards, Ami gave them back to Sakura who offered them to Heero to see if he wanted to look at them. Heero took the cards from Sakura as he was a little curious to what these Clow Cards really were. Ami and Syaoran looked at Heero as Sakura gave him the Clow Cards to study, and were very surprised to see his usually emotionless face have a different look to it. It looked like Heero was confused. This was not unnoticed by Sakura either who was also surprised to see an expression on Heero's face. "Is something wrong, Heero?" asked Sakura.

Heero was silent for a moment as the look on his face slowly vanished. "It's strange. When I'm concentrating on one of these cards, I can feel something. I don't know what this feeling is, but I can feel something coming from these cards. I can also feel what Mizuno-san was describing earlier. Some of these cards leave me with a clearer feeling than the others."

The others were shocked. Heero could sense magic too? "Do you mind if I check to see how much magical potential you have Yuy?" asked Syaoran who wanted to satisfy his curiosity. Heero just shrugged and told Syaoran to do what he needed to do. Syaoran closed his eyes and transfixed his magical senses towards Heero's aura. When he opened his eyes again the other three were all looking at him awaiting him to tell them how powerful Heero might be magically. "It's strange," commented Syaoran. "I've never come across anything like this before. Your magical energy is fluctuating. One moment you feel like you have the exact same amount of magical strength as Sakura, and then the next you feel like you have almost none. Everyone else I know has a set amount of magical potential, yet you don't. I don't know how to explain it."

"I suppose this is another thing to ask Eriol or Kero about," added Sakura. "Anyway, do you guys happen to have any idea of what type of power this Drain Card possesses?"

"Well," said Syaoran thoughtfully. "The Power Card adds physical strength to whomever the spell is cast on, so perhaps the Drain Card does the opposite? Maybe it takes away strength from an enemy?"

"That would make sense!" responded Ami. "Sakura said that when she got hit by the Drain Card it felt like all her energy was leaving her. Perhaps what looked like a simple punch was merely a tool for draining the energy out of Sakura."

"That might also explain the glow that surrounded Kinomoto-san when she got hit," offered Heero.

"That would make sense. The glow was probably an extension of the Drain Card's magical aura, which was used as a tool to drain the energy out of Sakura."

"That sounds like it could be a really dangerous card to use," said Sakura with concern in her voice. "If it was overused, it might drain too much energy from someone and cause serious harm. For that matter, do you think I can even use the powers of these new cards?"

"That's a good question. I'm not sure if you can control these cards, since they aren't bound by the Seal on the Book of Clow. You might not be Mistress of these cards like you are of the original deck of Clow Cards. I guess that is another question to ask Hiiragizawa." The conversation in the group degraded from serious to a fun conversation to raise each of their spirits. Eventually they all finished eating and decided to tour their new campus.

Author's Notes:

Heero has magic? Who would have guessed that? Well, probably a lot of people since as the story has gone so far, Heero and Sakura are the main characters aren't they? Well, just to inform those of you who aren't sure yet, Heero and Sakura are going to be the main two characters and Ami and Syaoran are going to be the main secondary characters. The reason for this is simply because Heero and Sakura are like my two favorite of all anime characters, and Ami and Syaoran are in second place. That makes sense, doesn't it?


	7. Sakura and a Mountain of Trouble Part II

Tokyo, Japan

After stopping by the guys' suite to drop off the leftover pancakes for Kero when he decided to get up, Sakura, Heero, Syaoran, and Ami started their walk around the campus. They checked out a number of the buildings where they would be having lectures and science labs and then went to see the Recreation Center and University Administration Building. After a few hours of walking around the group found a place where they bought some picnic food and a blanket and went to the open field in the middle of the campus. While they were eating and relaxing, Syaoran asked Ami and Heero if they wanted to learn some basics in making use of their magic power.

"Sure!" exclaimed a very excited Ami. "That would be great! Can you try too, Yuy-kun? So I don't feel like I'm being put on the spot." Heero just shrugged his shoulders and said sure.

"Alright," began Syaoran. "This exercise is to allow you to get familiar with using magical energy. The basic point of this doing this is to help you learn to enhance your concentration on your magical energy. The first step is to relax your body and clear your mind. When you reach a certain level of meditation, your magical energy should naturally manifest itself inside your mind. The easiest way to feel your own magical energy is to close your eyes, relax, and feel for your aura. When you perfect control of your aura when you are in this meditation state, you can begin to practice tapping into your magical potential without using your full concentration. Once you have mastered control of your energies, then you can learn to use the magical power and turn it into a physical manifestation." Ami and Heero both closed their eyes and relaxed their bodies and minds. Syaoran was concentrating most of his attention on Ami, while Sakura was entranced by Heero. "We'll try to help you focus on your magical power by focusing our own energy towards you." Syaoran and Sakura both closed their eyes and channeled their own magical energy in an attempt to help show their new friends the correct path.

Suddenly, Heero opened his eyes and his head snapped around towards his right. "What's wrong, Heero?" asked Sakura who was helping Heero focus his magical energy.

"There is something out there. In that direction," Heero said while pointing. "I can't explain it, but I can feel something out there."

At hearing what Heero said, Syaoran and Ami stopped what they were doing and looked at him. Syaoran then tried to focus his own abilities in the direction Heero indicated. It took a while, but Syaoran did get a brief feeling of the energy that Heero had felt. "How did you sense that? I've been practicing my magical sensing skills since I was only a kid and I can hardly feel that energy even when totally focused."

"I have no explanation of how I can sense it. All I know is that the feeling is extremely clear and it feels very similar to the feeling I got when I was holding those Clow Cards."

"Sakura, see if you can sense what he's sensing," suggested Syaoran. "The feeling is too weak for me to determine if it is a Clow Card. Maybe you can tell."

"Alright, I'll give it a try." Sakura closed her eyes and focused all her energy into sensing for a Clow Card in the direction Heero said he felt the energy. "I think Heero's right. The feeling is a little weak, but it does feel like a Clow Card. I'm amazed you could feel that power without any training."

"We'll worry about that later," said Syaoran who was standing up. "We have to go capture that card. If it is anything like the original Clow Cards then we have to make sure it doesn't have a chance to cause any trouble."

"You're right. Can you two come along in case we need your help, Heero-kun and Ami-chan?" asked Sakura.

"Of course, Sakura-chan," replied Ami. Heero nodded and stood up, indicating that he would go as well. The four then started running in the direction of the Clow Card, hoping to catch it before it could cause any mischief or harm. As they got closer to the source of the power, Syaoran began to feel the magic from the Clow Card a lot more clearly. Shortly after Syaoran had determined for himself that Sakura and Heero were correct in assuming it was a Clow Card, Ami began to feel the presence of the card. The feeling was very similar to the feeling that she got from the other Clow Cards and after concentrating a little harder on the energy, she began to be able to determine the strength of the card. "It feels like this card has a lot of power!" Ami yelled as she ran along with the others.

"I feel it too," confirmed Sakura. "This card feels even more powerful than almost all of the cards we have captured! And we don't know what types of powers it might have!"

"We'll just have to deal with that when we get there," said Syaoran as he picked up speed. The power of the card was starting to worry him, but his training wouldn't allow his concern to show on his face or in his voice.

The four arrived at a clearing between two large buildings filled with lecture halls on their school campus. As soon as the four caught sight of the source of the magical energy they all skidded to a stop. Sakura and Ami placed their hands on their knees and bent over, gasping for air since they had been running full speed for quite a long distance. The source of the magical source was very easy to pinpoint once it was within seeing distance. Fifty feet in front of the group stood an extremely large figure that looked to be made completely of molten lava. It stood at least eight feet tall and as thick around as a large tree. Even from the fairly large distance away, all four could feel the heat radiating from the magical entity. Wasting no time, Syaoran took hold of his pendant and released his sword. "God of Wind, Come Forth!" Syaoran's incantation resulted in a strong gust of wind directed directly at the new Clow Card. Unfortunately, the attack only served to get the attention of the magical creature. "Sakura! This Card seems to be fire based. I have nothing that is very effective against fire so it's up to you!"

"Right!" responded Sakura. "Key that Hides the Power of the Stars. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Sakura Command You Under Contract. Release!" Sakura's wand appeared in her hand and she immediately pulled out a Clow Card from her deck. "Freeze!" Sakura struck the levitating card directly in the center and in a blaze of light the Freeze card released and was ready to do the bidding of its Mistress. "Freeze Card, freeze the new Clow Card! Attack!" The Freeze Card attacked immediately and for a brief instant the heat from the molten creature was completely neutralized by the cold from the attack. Unfortunately, the attack from the Freeze Card turned out to be just as fruitless as Syaoran's wind incantation. Completely drained of its magical power, the Freeze Card reverted back to its card form and floated to Sakura's palm. "This Card is really powerful! The Freeze Card didn't even faze it!"

After the two unsuccessful attacks made in its direction, it was clear the molten creature had taken notice of the presence of the four heroes. Its gaze seemed to settle directly on Sakura, probably because similar to the other Cards, this new one could sense that she was the Card Mistress. The group watched and they also felt the entity gather power to strike back. The ground began to rumble beneath their feet as the four watched the monster raise its arms and create a ball of molten magma in each hand. The creature then hurled the two balls at the group, with one seemingly aimed at Sakura and the other in the direction of Ami. Sakura stood in shock at the ball of scorching lava came streaking at her. Her first thought was to raise the Shield Card to protect herself, but was hesitant because she was unsure if the card would even be powerful enough to stop the attack. Ami was just as stunned as Sakura, not used to being in the position of being attacked before she had transformed into Sailor Mercury. Luckily for the two stunned girls, both guys were quick to react to the attack. The attack in Ami's direction wasn't quite on target, allowing Syaoran just enough room to pull Ami out of the way and onto the ground, breaking her fall with his own body. Heero, however, didn't have the same option for protecting Sakura. His only options were either to let the attack hit Sakura, or block it with his own body. Of course, Heero chose to get in front of Sakura and protect her by putting his own body in harm's way. When Heero stepped in front of Sakura and took her into his arms to protect her from the attack, something unexpected happened; both Sakura and Heero's auras began to show themselves. Syaoran was quite surprised that Heero's aura was manifesting itself, since he wasn't using any magical powers. Not only was Heero's aura visible, but it was different than any other aura Syaoran had ever seen. While every other aura Syaoran had ever seen had been some color or another, like how Sakura's aura was pink and his own was green, Heero's had no trace of color at all. At that moment, the orb of fire impacted Heero and exploded, surrounding Heero and Sakura in a ball of flames.

"Sakura! Heero!" screamed Ami from Syaoran's arms. Ami buried her head in Syaoran's shoulder to hide her eyes from the horrifying sight in front of her.

"Mizuno-san, look," said Syaoran to the beautiful girl with her head buried his chest. Ami brought her head up and out of Syaoran's chest to look where Heero and Sakura were attacked and gasped in surprise. Standing in the same spot as before were Heero and Sakura. Both Ami and Syaoran were astonished that the two could still be standing after being struck with such a powerful attack. Their happiness soon disappeared when they got a better look at the pair after the smoke had cleared. While Sakura looked to completely unharmed, Heero wasn't so lucky. The entire back of his shirt and jacket was gone, and severe burns were clear on Heero's back. While Syaoran was inwardly concerned about Sakura and his new roommate and sparring partner, he was more amazed at the auras around the pair. From the look of it, Heero's aura had thinned itself out around him, and moved to protect Sakura. Sakura had her own pink aura surrounding her as she was using some of her magical powers to try to protect herself from the attack; however, as she feared it wasn't going to be enough to save her. Strangely though, Heero's aura had moved from surrounding him to wrap itself around her, doubling her aura protection shield. The end result was Sakura had an inner layer of pink aura, surrounded by an outer layer of white. Syaoran didn't know how it had happened. He had never seen anyone's aura extend itself off of the person creating it. It looked as though Heero's aura had given Sakura enough strength to keep her from getting hurt in the attack, but it left him unprotected. Suddenly, the portion of Heero's aura that was still surrounding him faded away, and Ami and Syaoran could only stand by and watch as he collapsed onto Sakura, who laid him down on the ground as gently as she could manage. While Heero's aura had faded from around himself, the extended portion of his aura that was surrounding Sakura remained.

After laying Heero down on the ground as he fell into unconsciousness, Sakura turned her attention to the Card. Ami could see that something had changed in Sakura. Her eyes no longer shone with their normal happiness behind them, but instead were burning with anger. Sakura was angrier than she had ever been in her life. Her new friend, who had protected her from an extremely powerful attack, was lying unconscious at her feet, and the source of his pain was right in front of her. "You are going to pay for what you did!" screamed Sakura. All Ami and Syaoran could do was watch as Sakura stood and faced the menace. Syaoran could feel Sakura drawing upon more and more magical energy, more than she had ever used before. Apparently the card felt Sakura dipping into her powers and was concerned, because it quickly generated another ball of fire and hurled it directly at Sakura. Unable to reach her in time to get her out of the way of the attack, Syaoran and Ami could only yell for her to move. Unfortunately, Sakura didn't seem to hear them as she stayed in the same spot and simply allowed the ball of flames to engulf her.

"Sakura!" Syaoran and Ami shouted in unison. The two were about to run over to try to help her, when all of a sudden the fire that was where Sakura had been a minute ago began to swirl around and soon flew up into the air and dissipated. Still standing in the same spot, not looking like she moved an inch was Sakura. However, Ami and Syaoran could see that her aura shield which had previously been pink inside and white outside, had been replaced by a giant silver aura which seemed to be still expanding. Seeing the Card Mistress deflect its attack so easily, the giant lava creature began to take a step backwards in fright.

"You're not going anywhere!" yelled Sakura. "Watery!" In a flash of light, the Watery Card was released from its confines and hovered next to its mistress. While under normal circumstances, Sakura would have simply ordered the card to attack on its own, this time Sakura used her magic to change the Watery Card into a ball of liquid energy which she controlled between her hands. "This is what you get for hurting Heero!" Sakura screamed as she let loose the newly formed ball of liquid. The ball transformed into a beam of liquid energy and streaked towards the fire creature with amazing speed. As the liquid impacted with the molten lava, steam began to rise from the creature. The beam went straight through the center of the creature, splitting it into two halves. Sakura continued her relentless attack, with her beam of liquid being directed straight at the larger of the two pieces of the creature, slowly turning it into a solid.

Ami watched in amazement as Sakura attacked. She could feel the power from Sakura's blast, and the strength of it sent a shiver up her spine. _"Who would have thought it was possible for one person to control so much raw energy?"_ Ami asked to herself. The amount of power Sakura was emitting was like nothing Ami had ever felt before, and if it had been anyone other than Sakura who was in control of the power, she would have turned and run in fear. Her amazement was kept in check when she noticed the smaller piece of the creature begin to reform itself and ready itself to attack the Card Mistress who was busy controlling the larger piece. Not wanting Sakura to get hurt by a surprise attack from the little creature, Ami acted quickly. "Mercury Crystal Power, Make-Up!" Ami chanted. In a burst of light, Ami transformed into Sailor Mercury, standing in a ready position as she prepared to attack. "Mercury Aqua…" As she chanted her incantation for her most powerful attack, an electrified ball of water appeared in Ami's hand. "…Mirage!" Ami threw the sphere of water and lighting at the now fully aware smaller creature. The ball split upon impact with the magical being and turned into ribbons of water that completely surrounded the creature. Finally, the water dissipated and all that was left was a large mound of black rock. Ami then looked back to Sakura who had finished disabling the larger creature and was waiting for her to finish before sealing the card.

"I Sakura, Mistress of the Cards Command You. Return to Your True Form. Clow Card!" The two mounds of hardened magma turned into white light and flew towards Sakura, stopping just in front of her and transforming into a new Clow Card. However, while Sakura would usually pick up the card and study it and feel proud at her achievement, this time she quickly put the card in her pocket without even looking at it and ran over to Heero. Sakura then recalled her wand and kneeled by his side. Once sitting next to Heero, Sakura's silver aura changed back to the pink outlined by white and slowly, the white outer layer disappeared from around her and reemerged as Heero's aura once again. Once Heero had his aura back around him, returning his magical strength, he regained consciousness. "Are you alright, Heero?" asked a very worried Sakura.

Heero sat up for a second to clear his head before standing. Once back on his feet he looked at Sakura and nodded. "Yuy-kun, Sakura-chan. Are you two alright?" asked Ami as she ran over to the pair, followed by Syaoran.

"Somehow, I'm completely fine, Ami-chan," replied Sakura as she looked herself over to make sure she wasn't hurt. "Heero looks hurt though."

"It's just a few burns," stated Heero in a monotone voice. "I'll be fine. Is this your Sailor Mercury form, Mizuno-san?"

"Hai. I transformed to help Sakura out since Sailor Mercury's element is water. Let me take a look at those burns on your back. My mother is a doctor so I might be able to help." Heero turned to allow Ami to look at his injury. "These burns are pretty bad. I'm surprised you can even stand. Most people would probably be unconscious from an injury like this. We should get you to the infirmary quickly."

Heero merely shrugged at the mention of medical care. "I've been hurt worse than this before. I'll be fine. Anyway, what exactly happened? I could feel Kinomoto-san's power increase, then I felt Mizuno-san's power go way up too, and soon after, I felt the Clow Card's energy disappear."

"You could feel the energies while you were unconscious?" asked Syaoran. Heero just nodded an affirmative. "Quite impressive. You have some really strange power, Yuy. I'm not sure if you know, but you probably passed out in the first place because your aura moved from your magical center to protect Sakura. I've never seen something like that before. I've seen people use spells that use their own magical power to create a shield around someone, but never have I seen an aura literally move from its host to protect another. Well, to answer your question, it looked like Sakura's power increased so much because her own aura combined with yours. Mizuno-san's power jump I assume came from her transformation and with the two of them working together the card was quickly and easily beaten. By the way, Sakura, what card is it?"

"Huh? Oh! I forgot to look," said Sakura with a shrug. She took the new card out of her pocket to take a look at it. Similar to the Drain Card, the back of new card was completely black. When Sakura turned it over, she was a little surprised. Instead of having a single picture of a magical entity on the front, this card was split in two parts. The top left corner held the same picture as the Firey Card, and the lower right side had the Earthy Card. The bottom of the card had the name 'Magma' engraved on it. "It looks like this is called the Magma Card. I don't understand why it has two pictures though. I thought you and Eriol said these new cards were made from the excess energy from making one Clow Card," said Sakura as she handed the card over to Syaoran.

"Well, these two pictures are the Earthy and Firey Cards. Perhaps, this Magma Card was made with a mix of both the Earthy and Firey powers. That would explain why this card was so powerful, since Earthy and Firey are both elemental Clow Cards and if the combined power from both of them are in this card, then it would have to have amazing power."

"I think this can wait," interrupted Ami. "I really think Yuy-kun needs some medical treatment. No matter how tough you are, these burns on your back are very serious and should be treated."

"Ami-chan is right," added Sakura. "We should get your wounds cleaned up."

"I think the school infirmary was over there," said Ami as she pointed toward a group of buildings. The group started walking towards the infirmary, with Ami and Syaoran in front and Heero and Sakura behind them.

"Heero-kun?" said Sakura in a soft voice. Heero looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Umm, I wanted to say thanks for saving me. I really appreciate it and I'm very sorry that you got hurt." Sakura's eyes started to water from the feeling of guilt that Heero got hurt protecting her. Her sadness vanished, however, when Heero surprised her by wiping away her tears with his finger.

"Don't cry. I just couldn't stand by and let you get hurt. And it looks like it turned out for the best anyway. I've been hurt much more seriously than this before, so there is no need to worry."

"Thank you Heero-kun." Sakura stepped in a little closer to Heero and rested her head against his shoulder as they walked. Heero looked down at the innocent girl resting on his shoulder and while she wasn't looking, gave her a slight, very gentle, smile. As he looked at her, he couldn't help but wonder how such a beautiful and kind hearted girl could have gotten mixed up in this strange and dangerous mission of capturing Clow Cards.

"By the way, Mizuno-san," said Heero. "Don't you want to change back into your normal state? You might get some funny looks if we come across any people while you are dressed like that."

"Oh yeah!" exclaimed Ami. "I totally forgot I was still in Sailor Mercury form. Thank you." Ami then proceeded to transform back into her normal clothing.

"So, where exactly do your normal clothes go, Ami-chan?" questioned Sakura who thought that it would be a neat trick to learn if she could.

"You know, I have never thought about it Sakura-chan," replied Ami with a shrug. "I have no idea what happens to my normal clothing when I transform. They just seem to disappear and come back when I transform back." Sakura dropped her head and sighed, seeing her hopes of learning to change into a costume so easily vanish. At seeing Sakura's obvious disappointment that Ami didn't know how to make her clothing disappear and reappear, Heero had to stifle a laugh at how cute she looked. As she was pouting, Sakura could have sworn she heard the beginnings of a laugh coming from Heero, but when she looked up to see if she was right, his face still looked the same. Sakura's studying gaze was not missed by Heero, who saw her emerald eyes that were so full of wonder out of the corner of his eye. At that moment he decided to do something way out of character. He shifted his head very slightly towards Sakura and gave her a wink and a grin. Sakura became ecstatic at seeing Heero wink and grin directly to her and she giggled and grabbed hold of his arm once again and rested her head against his shoulder. Heero and Sakura's entire interaction was missed by Syaoran and Ami who were talking with each other about what Ami's different magical powers are when she is Sailor Mercury.

It didn't take long for the group to reach the infirmary, but to their disappointment, there was a sign on the door that read 'The University Health Center will be closed until the first day of classes'. Still worried about the burns on Heero's back, Ami suggested, despite her uncomfortable feeling from doing so, that they try to break in and take a few supplies they would need to help Heero's burns.

"Try using the Lock Card, Sakura," suggested Syaoran.

"Good idea," agreed Sakura as she reached for her pendant.

"Don't waste your energy," countered Heero. Everyone looked at him questioningly as he walked up to the door and proceeded to pick the lock in a matter of seconds.

"How did you do that, Heero?" asked Sakura.

"I was taught all sorts of things when I was younger. Lock picking was one of them." Nobody got a chance to ask Heero why he had been taught to pick locks as he walked into the building to make sure there wasn't an alarm system he had to disarm. "There's no alarm system," Heero stated to the rest of the group. "Mizuno-san, you can come and get what you need now."

The other three went into the University Health Center to join Heero. Ami quickly searched through the cabinets until she found the correct treatments for Heero's burns. Heero removed his ruined jacket and shirt and threw them in the garbage as Ami treated and bandaged his burned back. After she was finished Syaoran gave Heero his jacket to wear for the time being since his own clothes got destroyed. Heero nodded to Syaoran for the jacket and thanked Ami for the medical care and the group then went back to the area where they had left their picnic stuff, not sure if it was still going to be there.

Author's Notes:

Well, the story is getting interesting isn't it? A few new twists in the plot have shown up, but not all of them are here yet. There will be numerous other incidents that will probably surprise you all, well I hope they surprise you all. Anyways, thanks again to all those who have read and reviewed my story.


	8. Sakura's Colorful First Day Part I

Chapter 3: Sakura's Colorful First Day

Tokyo, Japan

"Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan," whispered Mizuno Ami as she gently nudged the sleeping Kinomoto Sakura. It was three days after Sakura, Syaoran, Heero and Ami captured the Magma Card, and it came time for classes to begin. Everyone had compared their class schedules with one another and discovered that they each, with the exception of Sakura, had only one class with nobody else in it. Sakura turned out to have at least one of her new friends in every one of her classes. "Sakura, you don't want to be late to your first day of classes, do you?"

"Hmmm?" moaned Sakura who was just beginning to wake up.

"It's seven o'clock, Sakura-chan. You asked me to make sure you were awake for our class." Ami and Sakura both had Literature together at eight. Except for Syaoran and Heero, who were both enrolled in the same Literature class as Ami and Sakura, nobody else had class until ten so nobody else was awake yet to get Sakura up. "And don't forget, we are supposed to meet Syaoran-kun and Heero-kun for breakfast."

"Hmmm. Thanks Ami-chan," said Sakura who was conscious but still quite sleepy. "What was I thinking, signing up for a morning class?"

Ami giggled at Sakura's complaint. "I'll meet you outside when you are ready," said Ami as she was leaving to finish getting ready herself, now that Sakura was awake.

After Ami left, Sakura yawned as she got out of bed and stretched a little to wake herself up. For the past couple days she had slept in late since she had no particular reason to get up early and was still exhausted from her two encounters with the new Clow Cards. She looked around briefly for Kero before she remembered that he had decided to stay with Eriol since he didn't have early class and Kero didn't want to wake up early if he didn't have to. Sakura yawned again and headed out her door to the bathroom to shower before meeting up with Ami, Heero and Syaoran. After cleaning up, Sakura made her way back to her room to change. The University was a private school and unlike most other Universities, it required the students to wear a school uniform. The girls' uniform was made up of a white mini-skirt and blouse and a dark blue sweater with red trim. There was a long sleeve and a short sleeve sweater to choose from based on the weather, both of which had the school emblem embroidered in the left corner. Overall, the uniform reminded Sakura a lot of the uniform she had to wear back in elementary school in Tomoeda, only without the hat. Sakura chose to wear the long sleeve sweater since it looked cold outside at the moment, but Sakura assumed it would heat up later in the day. Once she was dressed, Sakura grabbed her backpack and headed out to the common room where Ami was waiting. Ami was also wearing the long sleeve sweater version of the school uniform. Ami felt a little uncomfortable in the mini-skirt, as she was not used to wearing them. When Sakura got up to Ami she noticed that she looked a little uncomfortable and asked her what was wrong.

"It's just that, well, I'm not used to wearing mini-skirts," answered Ami as she blushed a little.

"Really?" said a surprised Sakura. "But you're Sailor Mercury outfit is a mini-skirt. Even if you don't wear mini-skirts as your normal clothes, you wear them as Sailor Mercury."

Ami had to think about the point Sakura made. "I guess you are right, Sakura. I just never thought of it that way, since when I'm Sailor Mercury I am usually busy fighting so I don't have time to think about how I am dressed."

"Well, you don't have to worry, Ami-chan. You look beautiful," said Sakura with a smile.

Ami blushed again out of embarrassment from Sakura's compliment. "Thank you Sakura-chan."

The two then left their suite only to find Heero and Syaoran waiting in the hall dressed in their own uniforms. The guys' uniform was also white and dark blue like the girls'. The uniform consisted of white pants, a white shirt, a red tie and a dark blue blazer with the school emblem on the left breast pocket. Unlike the girls, the guys didn't have different variations of their uniform. "Good morning!" cheerfully said Ami and Sakura in unison. Both girls had been spending lots of time lately with the two guys and the two couples were quickly becoming more than friends with each other.

"Good morning, Ami, Sakura," said Syaoran. Since the four had been spending so much time together lately, they had decided to use their given names with each other instead of their formal names.

"Morning," greeted Heero. Neither girl was surprised that Heero had said good morning. Since their encounter with the Magma Card, Sakura and Heero had been spending a lot of time together and she had slowly began to make him more social, at least when she was around.

"How's your back, Heero-kun?" asked Ami who was acting as his own personal physician in regards to the burns he received fighting the Magma Card.

"Completely healed. Thank you Ami-san," replied Heero. Ami nodded, knowing Heero was telling her the truth. Since he had been burned, Ami had been checking to make sure he was healing properly and was astonished to see that he healed at a rate that was at least ten times as quick as a normal person. She had asked Syaoran if it had anything to do with Heero's magical energy, and he had told her he wasn't sure, but wouldn't be surprised. Syaoran and Sakura had been working with Ami and Heero on controlling their magical powers and the two were making quick progress. Nobody had as of yet figured out what type of magical energy Heero had or how his aura had blended with Sakura's, but Syaoran had written home and asked the Li clan elders to do a little research if possible and was still waiting on their response. Syaoran and Heero also spent time sparring together to enhance their fighting abilities as well as spending a little time teaching the girls how to fight without transforming or using their magic.

"I still have trouble accepting how quickly your body heals itself," commented Ami. "It certainly is incredible. You don't even have any scars from the burns." Heero just shrugged, and the group headed out to eat breakfast.

After eating, the four walked to their class. Since all the buildings had been closed when they had toured the campus, the four didn't know what to expect of the lecture hall where they were to have Literature class. Once they had found the correct room the four walked in. Sakura and Ami were visibly surprised, for they had expected the room to be a large lecture hall for this class. However, it turned out that the room was quite small, and instead of a lecture hall it held approximately ten desks with seats for two at each desk. The desks were situated so that there was an area in the center of the classroom that all the desks were facing. Syaoran and Ami sat together at one of the desks in the front row and Sakura and Heero sat at the desk behind them. Heero could see Sakura squirming in her seat a little as she waited for class to begin so he leaned over and whispered, "Nervous, Sakura-san?"

"H-hai. I don't want to embarrass myself on my first day and I was expecting a lot more people to be in this class," responded Sakura in a slightly shaken voice.

"Don't worry, Sakura-san. Everything will be alright. I promise." Heero even gave Sakura one of his half smiles that were more and more often appearing on his handsome face.

"Thanks Heero-kun," responded Sakura who visibly relaxed at seeing Heero's smile. She had decided a while ago that she really liked his smile, even if it wasn't a full smile like most people had.

By eight o'clock all the desks were full and a couple minutes later the professor walked in. "Good morning class. I'm Professor Tachi. Welcome to Modern Literature. In this class we will be pairing off and doing a number of reports on famous writings of this past half century. Please decide amongst yourselves who you would like to work with and let me know. Once you have done that, you may introduce yourselves to the rest of your new classmates and then you may leave."

"Will you be my partner, Syaoran-kun?" Ami asked Syaoran.

"I would be honored, Ami-san," responded Syaoran with a small smirk making Ami giggle. Then Ami and Syaoran turned around to talk with Heero and Sakura.

"Are you two going to work together also?" asked Ami.

"Hai!" stated Sakura, who was happy because Heero had actually asked her to be his partner before she got the chance to ask him. Heero nodded in response to Ami's question.

The four were about to go talk to the teacher and tell him who their partners were, when a tall, fairly good-looking guy walked up to Sakura and took hold of her arm and started dragging her towards the teacher. "Hey! What are you doing!?" asked Sakura, who wanted to know why this guy she didn't know was dragging her away from her friends. Despite her struggling, Sakura was unable to get loose from the strong grip of her rude new classmate.

"I'm allowing you to be my partner," the guy responded with smirk. "I am the most popular guy in school and any freshman would do anything to be my partner. You are the lucky girl I am picking to work with."

"But I'm working with Heero. Please let me go."

"I suggest you do what the girl asks," stated Heero is a menacing voice.

The upper-classman turned towards the new voice that was addressing him. When he saw Heero he laughed at him. "What do you think you can do about it shrimp?"

Heero answered him with action instead of words. With precise accuracy and lighting fast movement, Heero struck a pressure point on the guy's arm forcing his grip on Sakura to release. Because of Heero's quick action, Sakura was caught off balance when the bully let go of her arm, however before she could fall to the ground, Heero caught her around the waist and kept her standing. "You okay?" asked Heero.

"Hai. Thanks Heero-kun," answered Sakura as she gently rubbed her arm where her classmate had been grabbing her.

"Who do you think you are?" asked the now very pissed guy who had grabbed Sakura.

Heero didn't even turn to look at the guy addressing him and instead turned to Sakura once again. "Should we go tell the professor we are going to work together, Sakura-san?"

"H-hai," said a startled Sakura who was expecting Heero to at least look at the guy who was addressing him.

"I don't think so kid. The girl is working with me," again said the guy who grabbed Sakura once again to emphasize his point.

This time Heero did turn to look at the offending person. "I told you before leave her alone. She doesn't want to work with you and I can't believe that anyone in the right mind would. Now just leave her alone." As Heero was finishing his statement his hand shot out again in another lighting fast movement which hit another nerve on the guy's arm, this time a nerve that would cause his entire arm to go numb for at least an hour. "Sorry, Sakura-san. I shouldn't have let that happen."

"It's ok, Heero-kun. What did you do to him?" asked Sakura who could see the guy holding his arm and falling to his knees.

"He'll be fine. I simply struck a nerve that will make him be unable to feel his arm for a couple hours. No permanent damage. Maybe we can make it to the professor this time without being stopped," said Heero jokingly with a grin to Sakura. Sakura giggled at Heero and nodded. She loved it when he smiled at her.

"Are you alright, Sakura-chan?" asked Ami as she and Syaoran walked up to where Sakura and Heero were standing.

"I'm fine," responded Sakura. "Should we go to see the professor now?" Heero, Syaoran and Ami all nodded and the four went to see the professor and told him who they were going to be partnered with. The upper-classman whom Heero disabled could only grimace and watch as Heero and Sakura told the professor that they would be working together. As he sat, holding his arm that he could no longer move, he told himself that Sakura would be his and that he would make Heero sorry for embarrassing him.

The next hour for Ami, Sakura, Syaoran, and Heero passed quickly. They had Physics together and although the class was boring, they didn't run into any trouble like they did in Modern Literature.

When class was over and Heero, Sakura, Syaoran and Ami walked out of the classroom, they found Eriol, Ukyo, Minako, Duo, Ranma and Tomoyo all waiting outside. "Hey everyone!" greeted Sakura happily. "What are all of you doing here?"

"Well, since we all have Freshman Orientation class together, we figured we could meet you guys here and we can all walk to class together," answered Tomoyo. Everyone else nodded agreeing with Tomoyo's statement. Sakura and Ami smiled at the thoughtfulness of the rest of their friends and they, along with Heero and Syaoran, joined the other six and started their walk to class.

Author's Notes:

Well we have met our first original character. He will show up periodically throughout the story, not really playing a real important role, but mainly just there to be an antagonist. Again, I bet you all think you know who the couples are going to be in the story, but as I said before, don't be too sure of yourselves 


	9. Sakura's Colorful First Day Part II

Tokyo, Japan

The Freshmen Orientation class was a required course for all incoming freshmen and therefore had to be held in the largest lecture hall in the school. The group found enough empty seats so that they could all sit together. Exactly on time, the teacher of the class came in and everyone present was surprised to find that their teacher was the University Chancellor. "Welcome everyone," the Chancellor began. "I like to teach this course myself so that I can get an idea of what the new students at my University are like. From my experiences teaching this class, I have found that there is not enough time for everybody to introduce themselves in one class period, so I have decided that today all the guys will give a brief introduction of themselves, including their name and interests and next week, the girls will introduce themselves."

The introductions started at the front, and Heero, Syaoran and the others were sitting in the middle, so they had a while before it would be their turn to introduce themselves. Halfway through the class, the introductions reached the guys. Ranma was the first to introduce himself to the rest of the freshmen, saying his name and expressing his interest in the Anything Goes Martial Arts Style. Next was Duo, who stated that he enjoyed anything fun. Following Duo was Syaoran who also said he liked martial arts. Heero was next, but his introduction was a little different than everyone else's. While most of the guys in the class had given their name and a short speech about themselves, Heero said only three words; "Heero Yuy. Piloting," and then Heero sat down. Eriol was sitting next to Heero and had expected him to give such an introduction so he quickly stood up and introduced himself before the teacher could ask Heero any questions. During the five guys' introductions, the five girls sitting with them started feeling a little uncomfortable. They had each been spending a lot of time with one of the guys and each felt that their relationships might be going somewhere. However, when the five guys were giving their introductions, the five girls could hear the other girls in the room whispering to each other about how hot the five guys were. Until that moment, the girls hadn't anticipated that there would be any competition for each of their respective guys.

After class, Heero and Tomoyo left the rest of the group since they had class. They didn't have class together at that moment, Heero had Chemistry and Tomoyo had Economics, but they did have class in the same building so they were walking together. "So, Yuy-kun," began Tomoyo once they were out of earshot of the others. "I see you have been spending lots of time with Sakura-chan."

"We are partners for Modern Literature class," responded Heero in his usual monotone voice.

Tomoyo giggled at the fact that Heero wouldn't admit to spending time with Sakura. _"He reminds me a lot of Li-kun,"_ thought Tomoyo to herself. "You know, you are allowed to admit that you enjoy spending time with Sakura-chan. I know she has enjoyed spending time with you and I also know that despite the fact that you won't admit it, you have enjoyed spending time with her as well. It's certainly understandable. Sakura-chan has that special quality about her; it's impossible not to like spending time with her. She is just too cute, isn't she?" Heero answered Tomoyo with a strange look and a slight grunt sound, making Tomoyo giggle again as he was still refusing to directly answer her question. "Oh yeah. Before I forget," said Tomoyo, no longer in the joking voice she was using earlier. "The next time you and Sakura-chan go out and capture more new Clow Cards, you better call me! I have already missed two and I am not missing another one!" Heero looked at her with a very peculiar look on his face. But seeing that she was quite serious about not wanting to miss their next card capturing quest, Heero decided to be nice and nodded to her, indicating that he would find some way of informing her the next time a Clow Card appeared. When she saw Heero nod in agreement, Tomoyo became her normal happy self once again and decided at that moment that Heero was good enough for her Sakura-chan and that she was going to do whatever is necessary to make sure they ended up together.

An hour later, Tomoyo emerged from her class, which she had found very boring without any of her new friends present to keep her company, to find Heero waiting outside her classroom for her. Since Heero was a gentleman, despite his cold exterior, he had decided to wait for Tomoyo's class to finish and walk her back to her friends. "How was class, Daidouji-san?"

"Boring," replied Tomoyo with a pout. "I haven't had a class without either Sakura-chan or Meilin-chan in it for a long time and I had nobody to talk to. But, thank you for waiting for me, Yuy-kun." Heero nodded and the two started walking towards the restaurant they had agreed to meet the others at for lunch. After a couple minutes of walking, Heero suddenly stopped. They were still only about halfway to the restaurant where they were supposed to meet the others, so Tomoyo didn't understand why Heero had stopped so suddenly. "Is something wrong?"

"You know how you said you weren't going to miss the next Clow Card?" asked Heero. Tomoyo just nodded, still feeling a little confused. "Well, take out your camera. There is one nearby." Tomoyo's eyes lit up and she hurriedly searched through her bag for her camcorder. "You might not want to be too excited though," continued Heero. "It feels like it is a weak card."

"I'll call Sakura-chan and tell her that there is a card here," said Tomoyo as she started dialing Sakura's cell phone number.

"Don't bother," stated Heero before Tomoyo could finish dialing. "She's already on her way."

"How do you know that?" asked a very surprised Tomoyo as she put her phone back in her bag.

"I can feel her aura," stated Heero as if it was obvious.

A second later, Sakura turned the corner, running at full speed with Ranma right on her heels. Once they reached where Tomoyo and Heero were standing, Tomoyo asked where everyone else was. "Saotome-kun and I wanted to meet you two halfway, so everyone else is still at the restaurant. Then I felt the presence of a Clow Card and started running."

"We know," replied Tomoyo. "Yuy-kun felt it too. I was about to call you, but he also said he could feel your aura coming this way."

"The feeling is coming from this direction," interrupted Heero as he pointed in the direction of the art department building. The four turned and started running towards the art building, with Heero and Sakura in front and Tomoyo behind them videotaping their every move. Ranma was running next to Tomoyo to make sure nothing happened to her while she was filming Heero and Sakura.

When Heero and Sakura reached the art building and opened the door, a quiet "Hoe?" escaped from Sakura's mouth. The noise sounded so cute to Heero that he had to force himself not to laugh to maintain his serious demeanor. Sakura started to blush when she realized what had come out of her mouth. It had been a number of years since she had stopped using the word 'hoe' every time something surprised her and she felt a little embarrassed that he childish ways had come back. Heero couldn't blame Sakura for being surprised, for what he saw when he entered the building had surprised him as well, although he didn't show it. They had entered into what looked to be an art gallery in the main hall of the building, but instead of being a tasteful art gallery like it was supposed to be, the entire area was full of many different colors. Not only were the paintings hyper-colored, but the walls, the floor and the ceiling all looked like someone had thrown buckets of paint everywhere. Heero and Sakura stepped into the building and were surprised to find that when the entered the area, they too became multi-colored. Each one looked to each other with surprised looks on their faces and then turned to look at Tomoyo and Ranma as they reached the door.

"What happened, Sakura-chan?" asked Tomoyo when she saw her best friend was made up of about twenty different colors.

"I don't know, Tomoyo-chan," responded Sakura. "We just walked in here and all of a sudden we looked like a piece of abstract art."

"Is this the work of a Clow Card?" asked Ranma as he looked around the multi-colored building from the safety of the doorway. He had no intention of entering the room and looking like a piece of art if he could help it.

"I guess so," answered Sakura with a shrug. "I guess we just have to figure out where the card is centered and then capture it. At least this card feels weak and doesn't seem to be causing any real harm."

"But where could the card be?" asked Tomoyo as she took the opportunity to capture the colorful sight in front of her with her camera.

"It is right over there," stated Heero as he pointed. The other three turned to see where Heero was pointing and were surprised to see that he was pointing at a painting that was still black and white.

"Why didn't that one change color?" wondered Sakura. "Are you sure that is where the Clow Card is, Heero-kun?" Heero just nodded and motioned for her to try and seal it. "Key that Hides the Power of the Stars. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Sakura Command You Under Contract. Release!" Once Sakura's wand was released she walked over to the black and white painting. "I Sakura, Mistress of the Cards Command You. Return to Your True Form. Clow Card!" As Sakura brought her wand down onto the painting, everything in the room changed back to normal colors and in a flash of white light, a new Clow Card appeared in front of Sakura. As she reached her hand out to grab the card, it floated up and away from Sakura and into Heero's hand.

"Huh? Why did the card fly over to Yuy-kun?" asked Tomoyo from behind her camera.

Heero just shrugged and walked over to Sakura and gave her the card. "I guess the Clow Card thought Heero-kun deserved to be its master since he was the one who figured out where it was. By the way, how did you know the card was in that painting?" asked Sakura.

"I just concentrated my energy like you were teaching me. After I did that, it was pretty clear where the Clow Card was centered," answered Heero. "What card is it?" Sakura looked at the card in her hand, surprised that Heero hadn't bothered to look at it when it flew over to him. She couldn't understand why Heero gave her the card without even looking at it when he seemed to be the one that deserved it. "You deserve the card, Sakura-san. I only figured out where it was from the lessons you were giving me."

"How did you know that was what I was thinking?" asked Sakura with wide eyes.

To Sakura's surprise, Heero's usually emotionless face changed and took on one of confusion. "I don't know," answered Heero. "I just knew. I didn't even realize I knew until I answered you."

"You can read Sakura-chan's mind!?" questioned Tomoyo in an excited voice. "That is so cute! And I got it all on tape too!" Tomoyo was beaming with happiness while Heero and Sakura just looked at each other, unsure of what exactly had happened.

Heero shrugged. "Not really. I guess it was just some type of coincidence."

"Well, anyway, it says this is the Color Card. There aren't many places more colorful than an art gallery so I guess I understand why it would want to be here. It also looks like it was created from magic from the Snow Card," commented Sakura as she looked at the card. Similar to the other two new Clow Cards she had captured, the back of this one was black and the picture was the same as the Snow Card. After Sakura had looked at the card, she gave it to Heero so he could look at it more closely. Neither Heero nor Sakura noticed the well hidden aura floating above them as it finished surveying the situation and flew away.

As Heero studied the card, a thought occurred to him. "Since this card doesn't seem to be able to cause much damage and it was so easy to capture, why don't you see if you can control it? You said before that you wanted to know if you could use these new cards but were afraid to call upon the Drain or Magma cards since they were too dangerous."

Sakura took a moment to think about what Heero had suggested. "I guess you're right, Heero-kun. I'll try." Sakura took the Color Card back from Heero and threw it up into the air. "Color!" yelled Sakura as she brought her wand down on the card. However, when Sakura struck the card with her wand, nothing happened. "Huh? It doesn't work," said a surprised Sakura as she picked up the card. "I can't release it."

"It's ok, Sakura-chan. You still looked cute trying," said a smiling Tomoyo.

"T-Tomoyo-chan…" whined Sakura as her face reddened from her best friend's obsession with her cuteness.

"Maybe you have to make it a Sakura Card," suggested Tomoyo.

"Good idea. I'll try that." Sakura raised her wand and once again threw the Color Card into the air. "Card Created by the Magic of Clow. Discard Your Old Form and be Reborn, Under the Name Sakura; Your New Mistress." A bright light came from Sakura's wand as she finished chanting, but the card didn't change. It just continued to float down to Sakura's feet.

"Don't worry about it Kinomoto-san," consoled Ranma when he saw Sakura's face turn into a frown of defeat. "You tried and that's all that matters. We'll figure something out eventually. For now, we should go meet up with everyone else before they start worrying and think we ditched them."

"You're right, Saotome-kun," said Sakura. Sakura then recalled her wand and picked up the Color Card as the four left the building and went to meet up with their friends. Ten minutes later the group met up with the rest of their friends at the restaurant. When they arrived, Eriol was the first to ask what had taken them so long.

"Sakura-chan and Yuy-kun captured another card!" exclaimed Tomoyo happily. "It was so cute! They worked together and caught the Color Card. And I got it all on tape!"

"The Color Card?" asked Duo, who thought it sounded like a silly card.

"Hai," answered Sakura as she sat down. "It didn't do much though and was a pretty easy card to capture. Heero figured out where the card was and then we captured it." Sakura gave the card to Syaoran, since she figured he would want to see it.

"Made from the Snow Card it looks like," commented Syaoran.

"Kinomoto-san also tried to release the card after it was captured," added Ranma, who thought it was an important point and was wondering why nobody had mentioned it yet.

"And what happened?" asked Ami while she looked at the Color Card over Syaoran's shoulder.

"It didn't work," answered Sakura a little sadly. "I couldn't release it."

"Did you try changing it?" asked Eriol. "It looks like these cards have no master yet since there is no magic circle on the back."

"I tried that too," answered Sakura. "But that didn't work either." Sakura dropped her head in sadness, feeling a little disappointed in herself. She soon perked up when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. She turned her head to see Heero's cobalt blue eyes staring into hers and his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't blame yourself," said Heero quite sincerely. "Nobody expects you to do more than you are capable. From what I can tell you worked really hard at capturing and changing all the cards you have now, so there is no reason to beat yourself up over this. We'll find some way to use these cards. It will just take a little more time." Sakura placed a hand on top of Heero's, and he responded with a smile which succeeded in cheering her up.

Duo just watched in amazement at Heero and Sakura. He had never thought anyone would be able to make Heero act compassionate, gentle, caring – basically human. But somehow, in these past few days, whenever Heero was around Sakura, he turned into a normal person, almost. At times Duo still enjoyed annoying Heero about no longer being the emotionless perfect soldier, but at the moment, he thought it was best not to say anything since Heero's kindness had worked to cheer up Sakura and he didn't want to do anything to make Sakura depressed again. "Well, now that you are finally here," Duo said in a fun and carefree tone of voice, "can we order? Some of us have class soon and want to get some food in our stomachs before we go and learn." Everyone looked up when Duo spoke and with the exception of Heero and Syaoran, they all laughed at the joking Gundam pilot.

"By the way, Yuy," interrupted Syaoran. "The four of us were planning on trying out for the school soccer team. You want to try too? Maxwell says you are good at sports and from what I can tell from our sparring matches you are competitive and very athletic as well." Heero shrugged and said sure and then the ten teens ordered their food.

The rest of the day went by without incident. Each person had scattered classes and breaks together, except for Biology which everyone was enrolled in except for Heero and Sakura. The biology teacher announced in class that there would be a three day weekend trip to the natural wildlife preserve where the class would be studying the behaviors of certain animals and plants. That meant in a few weeks, the only ones that would be left on campus would be Heero and Sakura.

Author's Notes:

The Color Card? Sounds dumb doesn't it? Well, I guess I wasn't feeling very creative when I wrote this chapter. I know this chapter was shorter than the second and definitely shorter than the first, but hey, I can't write them all the same length.


	10. Sakura and Heero and the Key Part I

Chapter 4: Sakura and Heero and the Key

Tokyo, Japan

"Heero!" yelled Duo Maxwell as he ran three steps behind and ten feet to the right of Heero Yuy. Heero briefly looked over his shoulder and then made a sudden stop and flipped the soccer ball behind his back directly into the path of his fellow Gundam pilot. Duo smoothly got control of the ball and because of Heero's quick move had no defenders in his path. Once he was within shooting distance of the goal, he faked left, making the goalie dive to where he thought Duo was shooting. While his right foot was pretending to shoot to the left, his left foot swept over and he kicked the ball straight up in the air. He then ducked out of the way of a flying Li Syaoran, who jumped up and did a flip and kicked the ball while upside down straight into the right corner of the goal. "Nice shot Li," commented Duo as he came over and gave Syaoran a high five.

On the other end of the field, Saotome Ranma and Hiiragizawa Eriol were making quick work of the defense, passing and weaving between all the defenders on the field. Once they had cleared all the defenders, Eriol kicked the ball right in front of the goal, but before the goalie could reach the ball and grab it, Ranma flew in from out of nowhere and headed the ball past the goalie and into the back of the net. "Nice pass, Hiiragizawa."

"Excellent shot, Saotome. It seems we make a pretty good team," Eriol joked as they walked towards the center of the field where the coach was waiting.

"Great job you two," said the coach as Ranma and Eriol reached the rest of the team. "You guys too; Yuy, Li, and Maxwell. In all the years I have been coaching, I have never seen five guys as talented as you that hadn't been recruited. I may have to replace the starters with you five." The coach then turned to face the entire group of students who were trying to make the soccer team. "Alright everybody, that is the end of try outs. I will let you know if you make the team within the next week, and for those of you who don't make it, I am sorry and good luck again next year." The students all began to walk back to the locker room to shower and change after the exhausting workout. "Li, Yuy, Maxwell, Hiiragizawa, Saotome. Would you five stay behind for the regular practice? You will be on the team for sure, so I wanted you to meet the other players and if you aren't too worn out to play in the scrimmage with them as well." The five nodded and went to the bench for a breather and a drink.

"So do you know any of the returning players on the team?" asked Duo to no one in particular.

"Nope," answered Syaoran. "But I've heard they have a good team. The new captain, who is now a senior is supposed to be one of the best in the league."

The guys talked for the next ten minutes until the returning players started to arrive. The five freshmen introduced themselves to the rest of the team as they arrived and all the players seemed friendly enough to the newcomers. The last to arrive was the new captain of the team. When he arrived, the team introduced him as Katsaguri Tohru. The first person Tohru spotted was Heero. "You!" he screamed at Heero. "What the hell are you doing here!?"

Heero turned towards the captain, but didn't say anything. He just looked at him with his normal intense gaze. "You know this guy, Yuy?" asked Ranma.

"He's in our Modern Literature class," responded Syaoran who was staring at the guy with an intensity that was equal to that of Heero. "He's the guy that grabbed Sakura on our first day of class." That comment made the other three freshmen also look accusingly at the new captain. Each one of them had grown to like Sakura a whole lot and didn't like that this guy had hurt her before.

"Alright. That's enough," interrupted the coach. "All of you run some laps to warm up. We are going to have two half-field scrimmages."

"Hey Coach," said Tohru. "How about four of the starters and I take on these new guys in one of the scrimmages. I'd like to see if they are any good."

"Good idea, Katsaguri. It'll give me a chance to see if they are as good as I think," responded the coach. Tohru then left to warm up with a smile on his face because of the prospect of embarrassing Heero and the others in front of the coach. After a few minutes of warming up, the team was ready to play. "Alright," announced the coach. "We will have two scrimmages of five on five. Yohana will be the goalie for the game on the far side of the field, and Tanaka will be the goalie on this side of the field. The teams will be, Baizu, Junya, Koei, Miyazaki, and Suzuki versus Hideyuki, Kunio, Raijin, Tomina, and Yasuyoshi. They will be playing on the far side of the field. On this side will be Fukunaga, Hajime, Murase, Shinji, and Katsaguri. They will be playing against Yuy, Li, Hiiragizawa, Maxwell, and Saotome; our newest team members. Now let's get started."

The players all went to their assigned field and began the scrimmages. "Take ball," stated Tohru. "It is time to put you in your place and show you just how useless your feeble soccer skills really are."

All the guys just shrugged and moved to start with the ball. Eriol started with the ball and passed it in to Duo. As three defenders closed in on Duo, he popped the ball up in the air and headed it over the heads of the converging players and over to Syaoran. Syaoran dribbled up field with Ranma on his right, Heero on his left, and two defenders chasing after him. One more defender was in front of Syaoran, and Tohru was running parallel between Syaoran and Heero. As the defender in front of Syaoran reached him and made a swipe at the ball, Syaoran faked left towards Heero and then flipped the ball right in front of Ranma. Ranma made eye contact with Heero, who still had Tohru staying in front of him to keep him from touching the ball. Heero and Ranma made subtle motions to one another indicating their plan and then Ranma kicked the ball towards the goal, right above the head of Katsaguri Tohru. Tohru grinned to himself thinking he had an easy steal, when suddenly Heero jumped above his head and did a flip, kicking the ball into the back of the net past the completely unsuspecting Tanaka.

"I thought you said something about putting us in our place," said Ranma with a grin. "You guys are going to have to do better if you want to beat us." This got Tohru extremely angry. He was not going to let these freshmen embarrass him and his team. Murase started with the ball and passed it in to Tohru. Tohru then dribbled the ball up field towards the goal. Meanwhile, Heero motioned for everyone to back off so that he could take Katsaguri on, one on one. Tohru then picked up speed when he saw that only Heero was between him and the goal. Once he got to within a foot of Heero, he did his favorite fake, a move that worked every time at faking out the defender. Unfortunately, Tohru had never faced anyone like Heero before, for Heero didn't bite at all. He watched where Tohru moved the ball, and in the midst of his move to fake out Heero, he jumped in and cleanly stole the ball away. Tohru didn't even notice the ball was missing at first and continued to dribble up field. A moment later, when he noticed the ball was no longer in front of him, he turned around to see Heero standing still with the ball under one foot. Heero's taunt got Tohru even more pissed, and he motioned for Heero to come at him. Heero accepted the challenge and dribbled straight at Tohru. When he reached him, Heero held the ball with both his feet and did a flip straight over Tohru's head, landing smoothly behind him. Still with complete control of the ball, Heero flipped the ball up and jumped sideways and kicked the ball past the goalie into the corner of the goal. He then stood up and looked back at Tohru with his customary intense stare. Heero then heard clapping coming from the sideline somewhere. Unsure of who could be clapping he looked towards the sound and was surprised to find Sakura, Minako, Ami, Ukyo and Tomoyo all there clapping.

"That was amazing Heero-kun!" yelled Sakura from the sidelines. Syaoran, Eriol, Ranma, and Duo then jogged up to where Heero was standing and each gave him a pat on the back and said nice shot.

"Your turn again," chided Eriol as he looked towards the five returning stars of the soccer team. "Why don't you guys try and get a shot off this time." That comment got the other five pissed which made Eriol grin and Duo and Ranma laugh. The rest of the scrimmage went along in much the same way as the first few possessions. Heero and the others would easily steal the ball from the other players on their passes or when they were trying to dribble past them. Once on offense, the freshmen made it seem as if there were no defenders on the field. They maneuvered around with expert precision in their passing and shots, and could easily blow past any of the defenders when they chose to do so. In the end, Heero, Eriol, Syaoran, Duo and Ranma kept the upper-classmen from getting off even a single clean shot at the goal, while on the offensive end they didn't miss a single opportunity to score.

"Alright everybody," yelled the coach to get the attention of all the players. "That's the end of today's practice. Hiiragizawa, Saotome, Li, Yuy, and Maxwell are all as of now officially on the team. I will announce the starters at tomorrow night's practice. Great job today, everyone. Now get cleaned up and get some rest. I'll see you all tomorrow at 7:00 pm sharp!"

As everyone started to leave, the guys grouped up and started walking together towards the locker room. When they were halfway across the field, they noticed Sakura, Ami, Minako, Tomoyo, and Ukyo running up to greet them. "You were great, Heero-kun!" beamed Sakura as she came running up and gave Heero a tight hug. "In fact, all of you were great. I can't wait to watch you guys play in the games this year!"

"Well, hello again sweetheart," said Katsaguri Tohru as he walked up to where Heero, Sakura and the others were standing. "Don't I get a hug," he said to Sakura. "How about you forget about that loser and come with me."

Sakura hid behind Heero for protection when she saw who was addressing her. "Why don't you just leave her alone, Katsaguri," stated Heero as he kept a protective arm around Sakura's waist. "Or have you not had enough embarrassment for one day."

Tohru began to get angry at Heero's remark, but quickly calmed down and shrugged. "You're not worth my time, shrimp. And you sweetheart, you will soon see that you are much better off with me than with Yuy." Tohru then laughed and walked away.

"What a jerk," stated Minako as she watched Tohru walk away.

"Forget about him," said Duo as he walked up next to Minako. "He's not worth the effort. Besides, I've heard he is the starting forward, but after seeing how easily we made a chump out of him and his buddies, I think the coach just might be replacing him with one of us. Anyway, what do you say we go get something to eat?"

"Sounds good," responded Minako with a smile. "The rest of you want to join us?"

"I'd be delighted," answered Eriol. Ukyo, Ranma and Tomoyo also agreed to go.

"I'm sorry," said Sakura with a frown. "We can't go. We have to go work on our first Modern Literature project." Heero nodded that Sakura was right, and Ami and Syaoran informed everyone that they too had to work on their Modern Literature assignment.

"Oh well. That's too bad," said Tomoyo. "Maybe next time Sakura-chan."

"Don't forget, Sakura-san," added Minako. "We have cheerleading try-outs in two hours."

"Cheerleading try-outs?" inquired Duo.

"Hai," answered Minako. "I was a cheerleader all through high school and Sakura-san has been doing cheerleading since elementary school. Besides, we knew all of you guys would make the team so this was a perfect excuse to go with the team to the games."

"I can't wait to see you in a cheerleading outfit, Minako-san," Duo joked with a grin. He was rewarded with a playful elbow to the stomach by Minako. "Anyway, we better get going if we want to leave enough time for Kinomoto-san and Minako-san to get back for cheerleading." Everyone nodded and then Duo, Minako, Eriol, Ukyo, Ranma, and Tomoyo all left to go eat while Sakura, Ami, Heero, and Syaoran left to do their Modern Literature.

Author's Notes:

I wish I could play soccer like that! All the guys are so cool! Haha. Just kidding, but I do wish I could do those soccer moves I was trying to describe. Next up… the last installment of Chapter 4.


	11. Sakura and Heero and the Key Part II

Tokyo, Japan

Later that day, Heero was alone in his suite working on his Math homework. Everyone else, except Sakura and Minako who hadn't come back yet from cheerleading try-outs, had gone to the library to do research for their Biology project. They had invited Heero to go with them, but he had declined, saying he had to stay to do computer work. While his excuse wasn't entirely false since he did have work for Computer class, his main reason for staying was he wanted to wait for Sakura to get back. Heero sat back in his chair, visualizing the emerald eyed wonder that he had begun to care quite deeply about. He couldn't explain the feeling, not even to himself, but he just felt drawn to the girl and whenever they were together he just felt complete. As Heero's mind began to wander, something which rarely happened to him, Sakura suddenly burst into the room. Sakura's unexpected entry mixed with Heero's wandering mind resulted in the Gundam pilot being uncharacteristically startled. Sakura didn't seem to notice Heero's surprise as she bounded up to where he was sitting with a glorious smile on her face.

"I made the cheerleading squad!" exclaimed Sakura very happily. "Minako-san made the team too. And all the girls on the squad were so nice to us too."

"Congratulations Sakura-san," answered Heero after recovering from the surprise of Sakura rushing into the room. "I had no doubt that you would make the team." Sakura smiled at Heero for the compliment. "How did you know I was in here anyway?"

"Oh. Ami-chan left a note for us saying that everyone was at the library except you. So I decided to come over so I could tell you I made the squad." Sakura paused and gave Heero another smile. "That and I also felt your aura, so I knew you were here." Heero felt a little embarrassed that Sakura had pinpointed him by his aura while he had been so spaced out that he hadn't even noticed hers. "Anyway, Minako-san is going to go to the library and meet up with everybody since she has to do the same Biology assignment. What have you been doing?"

"I was working on the Math assignment," said Heero as he motioned towards the papers and books on his desk. Heero watched Sakura's eyes drop and her shoulders slump. "Oh, I almost forgot how much you said you hated math. Would you like some help? I've already learned all this stuff before so maybe I can be of assistance."

"Really? Thank you Heero-kun!" exclaimed Sakura as her eyes lit up again. She then wrapped her arms around Heero's neck and gave him an awkward hug since he was still sitting down.

"Do you want to start in a half hour?" asked Heero after Sakura let go of him. "That'll give you some time to get relaxed from cheerleading. We can do the Math and then work on that Computers class assignment if you haven't done it yet. Or, if you are hungry we can go get something to eat and bring it back here before we start."

"Food sounds good. I haven't eaten since this morning and I'm really hungry. Let me go shower and change and I'll be back in a bit." Sakura then left Heero's room to get cleaned up.

When Sakura came back into Heero's room she was wearing a pair of white pants and a long sleeve blue shirt. "So where do you want to go eat?" asked Sakura as she walked into the room.

"Everyone said that the sushi place they went to earlier was good. They also have pre-made sushi to go, so you want to try that? It's a little far though and I let Duo borrow my car to go to the library, so if you don't want to walk we can go somewhere else."

"No, that's okay. I like walking around outside at night. It is always nice to look up at the sky and see the stars." Heero had to agree with that statement. He always liked to look up at the sky and into space. The couple left the suite and headed outside toward the restaurant. Once outdoors, Sakura grabbed onto Heero's arm and rested her head against the side of his shoulder as she stared up at the sky. It was a beautiful and clear night sky that was midnight blue in color and held a countless number of shining stars. "It is really pretty out. Don't you think so, Heero-kun?"

"Almost as beautiful as you," responded Heero with a smile. Sakura blushed at the compliment, but liked that Heero thought she was pretty. Heero had been a little surprised at himself for saying that Sakura was beautiful, but didn't think too much about it since Sakura still looked happy. He then placed his arm around her waist and pulled her slightly closer to him while she rested against his side. Sakura was startled that Heero had placed his arm around her. As well as she could remember, it was the first time that Heero had initiated any type of physical contact with her, or with anyone for that matter. This made her feel even happier and continued to stare at the stars from Heero's side with a brilliant smile on her face.

When they were about half way to the restaurant, Heero and Sakura came to a small clearing with a large tree standing alone. The two were still star-gazing together and didn't notice the tree shimmer slightly in the moonlight. Although they didn't see the tree, they did feel the power that it emanated. It wasn't too strong, but it was noticeable to the two magicians. They both looked to one another for conformation that there was a magical presence nearby and when they determined that it couldn't be a coincidence that they both felt the same power, they started walking toward the tree. When they reached the tree, the magic suddenly flared up again, and before the couple could react, a huge stone wall had appeared between the two of them. Taken a little by surprise, Heero stood still looking curiously at the wall which had come out of nowhere. However, his training didn't allow him to gawk too long so he began to run along-side the wall, looking for the end so he could find Sakura. It didn't take him long to realize that the wall had formed a circle around the tree, trapping Sakura inside.

"Heero!" heard Heero from inside the wall. "I'm trapped in here."

"I noticed that," responded Heero in a composed voice, hoping to calm down Sakura and keep her from panicking. "Can you use the Fly Card and go over the top of the wall?" asked Heero as he remember seeing it in the deck of Clow Cards Sakura carried with her.

"I'll try. Key that Hides the Power of the Stars. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Sakura-." In the middle of Sakura's incantation to release her Star Wand, her key suddenly disappeared and her magical circle vanished. "Heero-kun!" yelled Sakura who was now getting worried. "My key that holds the Star Wand disappeared!"

Heero turned his head to his right, towards where Sakura's voice was coming from on the other side of the wall, and saw that Sakura's pendant had suddenly appeared on the ground, outside the wall. "Your pendant just appeared out here," responded Heero. "Let me throw it over the wall back to you." Heero went and picked up the hidden wand, realizing that this was the first time he had touched the mystical item. Heero could feel the power coming from the Key of Star. For some reason, the power felt very familiar to him. However, he just shrugged off the feeling, deciding to worry about it later when he had more time. Heero threw the Key of Star up and in an arc that should have cleared the top of the wall by a good distance. However, Heero hadn't been counting on the wall growing to twice its height, making the Key bounce off the side of the wall and back down to Heero. Heero still thought he could make the throw over the top of the newly heightened wall, so he tried once again. Unfortunately, the same result happened again. As the Key reached a height which would have cleared the wall, it suddenly grew taller, making the Key strike the wall and fall back to Heero. "Sakura-san," said Heero through the wall. "The wall keeps growing higher when I try to throw the Key over it. I don't know how to get it to you."

"What should we do, Heero-kun?" asked Sakura who was now extremely worried.

"Don't panic, Sakura-san. We'll figure something out." Heero stood still holding the Star Key in his hand while looking up at the wall. From where he stood, he didn't know if he could get to Sakura. Heero thought to call the others, but when he reached for his phone, he found that it was no longer in his pocket. "Sakura-san. Do you have your phone?"

"Huh? That's a great idea, Heero-kun. I'll just call Syaoran-kun and see if he or Eriol-kun can get me out of here." Sakura reached for her phone, when that too suddenly disappeared. "Oh no! Heero-kun, my phone just disappeared."

"Hmm. Mine is gone too." Heero though of possibly going to the library, but didn't think leaving Sakura alone was a good idea. He continued to stand and think of ways to get Sakura out from behind the wall when a thought came to him. He looked down in his hand at the Key of Star, still feeling that the magic being emanated from it felt very familiar. He thought back to when Sakura was releasing the wand from inside her pendant and noticed that the feeling he got when Sakura was releasing the Star Wand was the same as the feeling he had at that same moment. Heero concentrated his magical energy on the Key of Star when abruptly a magic circle formed underneath him. It wasn't quite the same as Sakura's magic circle with the star in the center and the sun and moon on each side. Heero's magic circle instead had a star on each side, with a planet in the center. If anyone had been there to see it, it would look like Heero didn't even notice that there was a magic circle underneath him. "Key that Hides the Power of Space. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Heero Command You Under Contract. Release!" A bright light illuminated the entire area, originating from where Heero was standing. The light source was Sakura's pendant which Heero had released with his own power. The resulting item was no longer the Star Wand, but instead a sword. The sword was of a fencing style, very thin and flexible, but strong. The handle was gold with a yin-yang at the base. Heero was still in a partial trance state and so wasn't thinking about how he had managed to release the Star Wand into his own magical item. Heero took his new sword and slashed down into the wall surrounding Sakura. His magical item made a clean cut straight through the wall, leaving a clean diagonal cut in the wall. Heero then pointed the sword straight out in front of him, and a number of beams of energy flew out in each direction. Heero then raised the sword above his head in a motion that would have made most believe he would strike at the wall again. However, instead of bringing the sword down in another cut into the wall in front of him, Heero chanted. "I Heero, Master of the Cards Command You. Return to Your True Form. Clow Card!" In a brilliant flash of light the wall disappeared and energy waves began to flow towards the tip of Heero's new sword. Elsewhere, more energy waves started flying towards the tip of the sword, although it would have been hard to determine exactly where from. After all the energy waves had gathered together, two cards appeared at the tip of Heero's sword and floated down into his hand. Heero took the cards and put them into his pocket without bothering to look at them and ran over to Sakura. Sakura was unsure of what had happened so she was just standing in place a little stunned. When Heero arrived she asked him what happened. Heero shrugged, since he really didn't know what was going on, but showed Sakura his newly formed Sword of Space. Sakura took hold of the sword and gasped.

"This feels like my Star Wand."

"Hai. It was created from your pendant. I didn't know what else to do, so I just concentrated my energy and this is what resulted." Heero took the sword back and then concentrated his magical energy again. This time the sword turned into energy and transformed back into a pendant. However, when Heero opened up his hand, instead of the single Key of Star, there were two different pendants. Sakura's normal pendant was still there in Heero's hand, but along with it was another key pendant. This one however, didn't have a star at the end of it, but instead had the same yin-yang as on the base of the sword that Heero had created. Sakura picked up her own Key of Star out of Heero's hand, and looked at both it and the new Key Heero held. She had no idea what to make of the second Key, so she decided to leave it alone until she could ask Kero and Eriol about it.

"So what was the card?" asked Sakura. Heero took the cards out of his pocket and handed them to Sakura. She was a little startled that Heero had handed her two cards, not just one. "There were two Clow Cards?"

"It looks like it. So what cards are they?" asked Heero.

"The Wall Card and the Remove Card. I guess that makes sense. The Wall Card was fairly obvious and I guess it was this Remove Card that was responsible for our missing phones and the Key of Star being transported out here." Sakura then thought about what she was saying and something else struck her. "Where do you think our phones went anyway?" Heero was caught a little off guard by the question. It hadn't even occurred to him that his phone might have been transported somewhere, not erased from existence.

"I'm really not sure where they could have gone. Truthfully, I'm a little more concerned by how this new Key was made," answered Heero as he looked at the newly formed Key of Space in his hand. "I can always get you a new phone if you need it, but I don't even know how I knew the correct incantation to release the Key. How did you know what to do when you first started this Card Capturing quest?" Heero asked Sakura.

"Well," answered Sakura while deep in thought trying to remember exactly what happened so many years ago. "I did have Kero-chan to guide me when I was first starting, but as for the incantations and everything, I just sort of naturally knew them already. I assume it was the same with you, Heero-kun. Although, I also have no idea how the Key of Star duplicated and created this new Key. Do you know what power your Key holds?"

"I believe it holds the power of Space," Heero answered. He held out the pendant in front of Sakura, motioning for her to take it and take a look. Sakura picked up Heero's Key of Space and concentrated her magical energy in an attempt to discover if it possessed the same type, and same amount of power as her Key of Star. As she expected, Heero's Key held the same amount of power as her own Key, although the type of power was slightly different. She hadn't expected it to feel exactly the same as her own Key since it did hold a different power, and not the Power of the Stars. "Did you still want to go get some food?" Heero asked when he noticed that they had lost a lot of time capturing the Wall Card and Remove Card.

Sakura looked up at Heero, having completely forgotten about getting food. Before she could answer though, he stomach answered for her by making a slight rumbling noise indicating that she was still hungry. Sakura blushed at her stomach's answer and even more so when Heero laughed slightly at her. Unexpectedly, Heero took Sakura by the shoulders and gave her a gently hug, making Sakura smile and feel very comfortable. "I guess you would like to go get some food," Heero said quietly. "Ready to go?" Sakura smiled at Heero and said yes and the couple walked towards the restaurant once again with Sakura hanging onto Heero's arm.

A few hours later found Heero and Sakura back in Heero's room working on their math homework. The couple had not run into any problems, at least not in a magical sense, since they had fought the Wall and Remove Cards. At the moment, the two were sitting alone together at Heero's small desk provided by the school. They had quickly finished their Computer Class assignment and were now working on Math. This assignment was not going very quickly since Sakura was having a number of problems with the homework. Heero was helping her, which was why they were sitting so close together, and as a result Sakura was slowly but surely learning the material. Previously that night, Heero and Sakura had come back form the restaurant and ate out in the common room of the guys' suite. They had even brought back some pudding for Kero which made him quite happy. Kero had been complaining a lot recently because he no longer had a video game system to keep him occupied while Sakura was out and wasn't allowed to leave the dorm since it was so crowded around and it would be too easy for him to be seen. To keep Kero occupied while he and Sakura studied, Heero had built Kero an extraordinarily advanced hand-held video game system from technology used on his Gundam. The system had buttons that were small enough and close enough together so that Kero could play without reverting to his original form. Heero had programmed five different games into the small system so he figured it should serve to amuse Kero for a good portion of time. Heero and Sakura had also asked Kero about Heero's new Key. Unfortunately Kero had no idea how the Key had duplicated. He did ask Heero to release his new sword, which Heero did. Afterwards, Kero had mentioned that it definitely was magic related to Clow. He had noticed that Heero's chant and magic circle were both different form Sakura's chant and circle and from Clow's chant and circle. That meant Heero's new Space Sword did feed off his own power so there was no question it was a different Key than Sakura's. When they had determined there really wasn't anything only the three of them would be able to figure out, Sakura and Heero left to work and Kero went to play his new video game. What Kero didn't tell Heero and Sakura was that Clow had told him and Yue about a legend that went along with the creation of the Clow Cards. This legend was that once the Mistress/Master met their true soul mate, a new power would be born and with it a new and immeasurable danger to the entire planet. Kero really wished Yue was there at that moment because he had a great fear that these two were going to be the catalyst for the world's greatest threat and were also the only ones with the power to conquer it.

Author's Notes:

Wow! The closest thing yet to a cliffhanger. I know it isn't really much of a cliffhanger and it only just raises a few questions in peoples' minds, but that is about as close to leaving people hanging as I can manage. I guess I'm just not creative enough to write a real cliffhanger. And who would have guessed that Heero was a Card Captor!? I think I did pretty good in making up ideas this time around. What do you think?


	12. Sakura and the Circus Fiasco Part I

Chapter 5: Sakura and the Circus Fiasco

Tokyo, Japan

"Key that Hides the Power of Space. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Heero Command You Under Contract. Release!" A second later Heero was holding his sword in front of him. Heero and Syaoran were both standing in the training room of their dorm with sword in hand, ready to practice. "So nobody has thought of an explanation for how I created this thing?" asked Heero as he motioned to his sword.

"No," answered Syaoran. "Not yet. But Kero is flying back to Tomoeda to talk to Yue about it. Hiiragizawa doesn't understand how, but it seems his other memory has a blank area in regards to a new Clow Key. Spinel Sun, one of Hiiragizawa's guardians, is also on his way over here to see if he can help."

It had been two days since Sakura and Heero had captured the Wall and Remove Cards and Heero had created the Key of Space. That night, when everyone had returned from the library there were a number of different reactions to the news that Heero had created a second Clow Key. Syaoran and Eriol had been especially surprised, Ami had been the most curious, and Ranma, Ukyo, Duo and Minako were mostly impartial to the situation since they didn't really understand the significance of the news. Tomoyo's reaction was mostly one of disappointment. She was upset that she hadn't been there to videotape the scene. However, she quickly changed from the most depressed to the happiest person in the room when Heero handed her a disk with a digital video of the entire situation he had copied from Wing ZERO's mobile camera that had captured everything. A while back, after Sakura had captured the Color Card, Heero had programmed Wing ZERO's camera to follow Sakura around to capture every card capturing quest on video. He didn't understand what was so great about capturing the cards on video, but it made Tomoyo happy apparently, and since Tomoyo was Sakura's best friend, Heero had decided to do something nice for her. He had been rewarded for his kind gesture with a quick hug of thanks from Tomoyo and another, longer hug from Sakura.

Heero had recently discovered another advantage to having his own Clow Key. According to Sakura, Eriol, and Syaoran, his new Clow Item should be nearly indestructible. This helped Heero because the weapons storage room was quickly becoming depleted. Since Syaoran's sword had magical protection and Heero and Syaoran trained with so much intensity when they sparred, by the time their training sessions were over, whatever weapon Heero had been using was so destroyed it would be practically unusable. Now that he had his own mystical sword, Heero hoped they would not have to destroy any more school property, otherwise the University might start charging them.

Half an hour into their workout session they both noticed out of the corner of their eyes that they had accumulated an audience. A group of maybe a dozen girls were all standing in the doorway, bumping and shoving each other to get a better view of the two guys. Both Heero and Syaoran were wearing green tank tops and black workout pants, so their well toned bodies were easily distinguishable. The two stopped fighting for a moment when they noticed the people watching them, but then looked at each other and shrugged and continued their match. When the two felt they had done enough weapons work they looked over towards the door and were disappointed to find that the girls had still not left. In fact, it looked as if the crowd had gotten larger and a few of the girls had begun to trickle into the room for a better view. Not wanted to stop fighting and give the girls a chance to come over and talk to them, the two decided to just switch from weapons to hand-to-hand without stopping. They did this by recalling their swords without pausing in their battle and smoothly made the transition into hand-to-hand sparring. Neither guy really cared what the girls saw and in fact hoped it would serve to scare a few of them away. Unfortunately their magical maneuver seemed to intrigue the girls even more. An hour and a half of constant fighting later, the guys began to tire. At this point they normally would have stopped, but neither one felt like dealing with the ever-growing number of girls, almost all of which had migrated into the training room. Fortunately the guys' luck suddenly changed when Sakura and Ami came down the stairs together. The two girls were on their way to lunch when they saw the huge gathering of girls in the training room. Curious as to what was going on they walked over towards the training room and were surprised to find that all the girls were staring at Heero and Syaoran sparring. Sakura and Ami could see that they were getting tired since they had watched the two train often enough to know they weren't moving at their highest levels of speed and precision. The girls were wondering why the two hadn't stopped yet since they both new that the guys must be pretty exhausted since it took quite a bit to keep them from going full force when they fought. Then Ami and Sakura figured out that the guys must have not stopped fighting so that the huge group of ogling girls couldn't disturb them. The two decided to help out their respective semi-boyfriends and walked into the room. When the girls walked into the room, Heero and Syaoran quickly picked up on their auras and thankfully sighed inwardly as they stopped sparring.

"Heero-kun, Syaoran-kun," said Sakura and Ami as they walked up to the guys and gave them a hug, wrapping their arms around the guys' necks. They were positioned in a way that allowed both Ami and Sakura to see the girls who had been watching Heero and Syaoran. They could see every girl there had a frown of disappointment on their faces and were staring at Ami and Sakura with a spark of both anger and jealousy in their eyes.

"Thanks," whispered both guys as the girls let go from their embrace.

As Heero and Syaoran saw the other girls in the room slowly leaving, Syaoran got an idea. "How about you girls let us take you out somewhere fun as thanks for helping us out?"

Ami and Sakura's faces lit up at the prospect. "Hai! Where?" asked Sakura.

Syaoran paused, realizing he hadn't thought of that part of the plan yet. Before Syaoran could say he didn't know, Heero interjected. "There is a traveling circus in town. How about that?" Sakura's eyes lit up even more and she emphatically nodded her head yes. Sakura loved the circus and couldn't wait to go with Heero.

"Let us get cleaned up and then we'll go," said Syaoran as the guys went into the locker room.

"Have you been to the circus before Ami-chan?" asked Sakura.

"Hai. But not for some time now," responded Ami.

"Me neither. I hope it is still as fun as what I remember. I loved the circus when I was little."

"We are going with Syaoran-kun and Heero-kun," pointed out Ami. "So I'm sure it will be fun."

"Ready to go?" asked Syaoran as he walked out of the locker room with Heero following closely behind. The girls nodded their heads yes. "It is on the other side of the city so we will have to drive. I hope you girls don't mind."

"Not at all," answered Ami.

"Do either of you know where Duo parked my car the other night?" asked Heero to Syaoran and Ami.

"It's parked right next to mine," answered Syaoran.

"What kind of car do you have Heero-kun?" inquired Sakura.

Before Heero could answer, Ami spoke up. "Just wait and find out, Sakura-chan. You've seen Syaoran-kun's car right?" Sakura nodded. "Well, Heero-kun's car is just as nice. I'm not sure which car is neater." Sakura was stunned. Syaoran's and Tomoyo's cars were the two most expensive cars she had ever seen.

When the four reached the parking lot where their cars were parked, Sakura was shocked. She quickly spotted Tomoyo's car. Her spotless black Mercedes Benz SL500 Roadster sports car was parked at the end of one of the rows. Next to Tomoyo's car was a dark blue Jaguar XKR convertible that Ami informed her belonged to Eriol. Next to Eriol's Jaguar was a bright yellow Acura NSX. Since Sakura had been told Tomoyo, Eriol, Heero, Syaoran, and Minako's cars were all parked together, she had to guess that the yellow Acura was Minako's. Next to the NSX was Syaoran's car; a sparkling silver Porsche 911 Turbo. The last car in the row was a beautiful gleaming red Ferrari 355 Spider convertible.

"Wow!" gasped Sakura as she stared wide-eyed at the five cars. "How do you guys get such nice cars?" she asked.

Heero and Syaoran looked at her and shrugged. "My family just has a lot of money and believes in only the best," responded Syaoran.

"I suppose I'm just used to owning expensive machines," said Heero. The other three gave Heero a curious look, but Heero just brushed it off and began walking toward his Ferrari. "Top up or down?" Heero asked Sakura once they were at Heero's car.

"Can you put the top down?" asked Sakura. "I've never driven in a convertible before." Heero nodded and retracted the convertible top as he started the car's engine and pulled out of the parking lot. As they were driving along the coast, Heero took a moment to glance sideways at Sakura. In his eyes, she looked stunning. Her eyes were closed and she looked to very much be enjoying the fresh sea breeze against her face. Her short auburn hair was flowing smoothly behind her and that only added to the angelic effect of the girl. Every now and again, Heero would look over at Sakura and each time she looked even more and more beautiful. Heero decided that he was glad he invited her to the circus.

Author's Notes:

Well, nothing really important happened this part of the Chapter. I will warn you now that Chapter 5 has three parts, so don't be expecting it to end after Part II. This first part was mainly my excuse to give everyone cool cars. My favorite of all of them is, of course, Heero's Ferrari. That is my dream car.


	13. Sakura and the Circus Fiasco Part II

Outside Tokyo, Japan

Eventually the four arrived at the location where the circus was set up. Heero pulled into the area designated for parking with Syaoran following closely behind. The two couples got out of the cars and started walking towards the giant red and white tent that was placed in the center of the clearing. As they got closer they could see that it was extremely crowded and when they reached the ticket booth they saw a sign saying all of the day's shows were sold out. Sakura had been so excited to see the circus that her heart dropped when she was the sold out sign.

"Don't worry," said Heero as he placed a hand on Sakura' shoulder. "Just come with me." Heero led the group to a smaller side tent that had a sign that read 'Employees Only' above the entrance. He then led the group through the door into the tent. At first nobody seemed to notice them while Heero glanced around the tent, seemingly looking for someone or something.

"Excuse me, but you aren't supposed to be in here," said a female voice from behind them. The four turned around to see who had walked into the tent behind them and found that it was an attractive young woman with red hair and beautiful pale purple eyes. "Oh, Heero. What are you doing here?"

"Hi Catherine," answered Heero. Catherine was a little surprised at Heero. She had remembered him as being the most emotionless of the Gundam pilots; however at the moment he seemed less harsh and more caring. Of all the Gundam pilots, Heero was the last one Catherine had expected to show up at the circus. "We came to watch the show, but it is sold out. I was looking for you or Trowa to see if you could help us out."

Just then another person with long light brown hair that fell in front of his deep green eyes walked through the tent door. "Hey Heero. Good to see you again."

"Likewise, Trowa." Trowa was wearing a pair of light blue jeans and a dark blue long sleeve shirt. He was built well, similar to Heero and Syaoran, although he was a little taller and perhaps a little bit more muscular as well. He also carried himself with the same mysterious demeanor that Syaoran and Heero held.

"So what brings you here?" Trowa asked.

"They wanted to watch the show, but it is all sold out," answered Catherine. As she answered she pulled four tickets out of her bag. "I have been keeping four tickets aside for each show in case Trowa's friends ever came to a show," she said as she handed the tickets to Heero.

"We appreciate it," said Sakura, who was standing right next to Heero.

"By the way, this is Kinomoto Sakura, Mizuno Ami, and Li Syaoran," introduced Heero.

"It's nice to meet you," said Catherine as she gave a handshake to each. "I'm Catherine Bloom and this is Trowa Barton. So how do you all know Heero?"

"We all go to college together," answered Ami. As Sakura, Ami, and Syaoran talked with Catherine, Heero walked over and stood next to Trowa at the side of the tent.

"So I hear you are roommates with Duo in school," mentioned Trowa. "Have you guys been getting along?"

"He has been no more annoying than usual. Anyway, I have been distracted from Duo's usual activities. Somehow I've ended up on another mission."

"With your Gundam?" asked Trowa in a surprised voice, since he thought he would have heard if a new Gundam mission had come up.

"No," answered Heero. "It is a little different." When Heero saw nobody except Sakura and the others were around he took out his pendant. "Watch." Heero took hold of his pendant and concentrated his magic energy. Suddenly his magic circle appeared beneath him making Trowa take a step back and attracting the attention of Catherine, Sakura, Ami and Syaoran. "Key That Holds the Power of Space. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Heero Command You Under Contract. Release!" In a flash of magical energy, Heero's sword appeared in his hand. "As you can see, things are a little different."

"What was that?" asked a shocked Catherine.

"It's magic," responded Syaoran. His voice made it clear he was completely serious. Catherine still had about a hundred more questions she wanted to ask, but before she got a chance, the circus manager came running in.

"Catherine, Trowa. We have a problem," he said as he stopped in front of the group. "The lighting and special effects systems have all shorted out."

"How bad is it?" asked Trowa as he followed the manager to where the electrical grid was located.

"It looks pretty bad. But you are our expert at this stuff so I wanted to get your opinion on if it will be necessary to cancel the next show."

When everyone arrived at the electrical equipment, Trowa and Heero bent down to get a closer look to obtain the status of the equipment. "When is the next show scheduled to start?" asked Heero.

"There is a show in one hour and another at five," answered Trowa.

"There is no way this can be fixed and tested in an hour," stated Heero. "However, it should be doable by the five o'clock show."

"I guess we will have to cancel the show," said a dejected Catherine.

"Maybe we can help," spoke up Sakura. "What kind of effects does all this equipment do?"

"It controls all the fire, water, and lighting effects," said Trowa. "We have fire loops for the animals and water explosions during our acrobatic routine. We also have a glow effect when the lights go out and it looks like the spotlight systems are gone."

"Sakura should be able to handle the lighting effects and I can do all the fire," said Syaoran. "Ami-san, can you do the water?" Ami nodded indicating she could handle the water effects.

"Excuse me," interrupted the manager. "How do you intend to do all this?"

"Don't worry manager," said Catherine. "I trust them. But are you sure you can control your power well enough to do this?" Catherine was looking directly at Syaoran when she voiced her concern since he was doing the fire, and fire was by far the most dangerous of the effects.

"Anything you can get a machine to do, I'm positive I can handle it."

"I'll take care of the electrical equipment," said Heero as he bent down again and began fiddling with the mess of wires and destroyed circuit boards.

"Follow me," said Trowa. "I'll explain what types of effects we need. Catherine, can you help the manager set everything up for the show while I explain what we need to Kinomoto-san, Mizuno-san, and Li?" Catherine nodded and she and the manager walked towards another small tent to start getting the animals and other props ready for the show.

"You will need to do something if you want the tent lights to go off," said Heero. "It looks like the main overhead lights control systems are fried so unless you plan to take out every bulb, they are pretty much stuck on."

"Understood," said Trowa as he led Ami, Sakura, and Syaoran to the center stage to show them what effects were needed and where.

One hour later, the interior of the tent slowly faded into darkness. As the crowd hushed in anticipation for the beginning of the show, a spotlight appeared to come out of nowhere and illuminated a small area around a lone figure standing in the center of the circular stage. "Ladies and gentlemen!" announced the manager. "Welcome to our show! I hope you have a wonderful time." As the manager finished the introductions he dropped his right hand and placed it on his hip. This was the agreed upon signal for Sakura to begin the effects.

At seeing the manager's hand go to his hip, Sakura recalled the Light Card she had been using to create the spotlight. She then pulled out another card and struck it with her wand. "Glow!" Suddenly the Glow Card emerged and created a sparkling glow effect inside the tent, causing the crowd to gasp at the beautiful sight. Their amazement quickly jumped to an even higher level when the entire outer edge of the circular center stage seemed to explode into an upward waterfall. As the water disappeared the center of the stage erupted in a frenzy of fire effects. Some flames flew upwards in a spiraling tornado of fire and others created dazzling rings and semi-circles of dancing flames. When the tornadoes of fire dissipated, a number of spotlights appeared, centering on the members of the animal team of the circus along with their lions, bears, and tigers. The dangerous animals all performed a number of tricks at the command of the trainers, including jumping through the rings of fire intermittently placed around the circular stage.

One of the last performances of the circus was the acrobatic routine of Catherine and Trowa. It was right before Trowa and Catherine's routine that Heero finished with the electrical systems. He believed everything was in order, but without testing it would be impossible to tell. Heero stood up and stretched a bit before walking off in the direction of Sakura's aura. As Catherine and Trowa began their performance, Heero picked up speed. He didn't know why, but he was sure that Sakura needed help. When he finally arrived to where Sakura was situated, he was shocked to see her leaning against the wall, obviously using a great deal of effort to just stay on her feet. He quickly ran over to her and gently placed his arm around her waist and her arm around his neck to allow Sakura to lean against him for support.

"What's wrong, Sakura-san?" whispered Heero in an exceptionally caring voice.

"H-Heero-kun," said Sakura weakly. "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. The Glow Card doesn't use much magic energy, but using both Light and Dark at the same time for so long is hard to do."

"I can understand that," said Heero sincerely. "Will you let me share some of my magic energy with you to help you out?"

Sakura didn't know what to say. She was so touched that Heero seemed to care so deeply for her and she felt so drained that she couldn't get a word out of her mouth. In the end she just nodded her head and smiled at Heero. Heero took Sakura into his arms in a genuine hug, allowing Sakura to happily melt in his caring embrace. Had anyone been looking towards the niche at the outer edge of the tent, they would have seen a beautiful silver glow coming from the opening as Heero shared his power with Sakura and once again their auras allowed themselves to combine together.

After the show, Syaoran, Ami, Catherine and Trowa found Heero and Sakura both sleeping peacefully in the small area Sakura had been throughout the show. Heero was sleeping in a sitting position with his back against the wall and had Sakura sitting between his legs with her back against his chest. They could see that Heero had his arms wrapped around Sakura's waist and her hands were placed on top of Heero's making sure he wouldn't let go of the comfortable embrace. Both Ami and Syaoran had felt Sakura's and Heero's auras combine and assumed they must be drained from using both the Light and Dark Cards simultaneously for such an extended period of time. Nobody wanted to disturb the peaceful looking couple, but Ami did pull out her disposable camera she had bought to take pictures at the circus and took a snapshot of Heero and Sakura. Ami figured that Tomoyo would probably like the picture of the cute couple for her collection. Instead of waking Heero to find out if the systems were ready for testing, Trowa decided to go do a thorough check himself.

After Trowa left, Catherine turned to Ami and Syaoran. "You two are pretty good friends with Heero, right?" she asked. Both Ami and Syaoran looked at each other and then back to Catherine and gave an 'I guess so' type of shrug. "Between the time you first met him and now, have either of you noticed him change at all?"

"Definitely," answered Ami. "When I first met Heero-kun at freshman orientation he was ice cold. But now, even though he still keeps up his serious exterior, it is obvious he is a lot warmer towards most people. He is still ruthless towards anyone who seems to be some type of enemy, but to his friends he has become quite a nice guy."

"That's what I thought. When I first met him, Heero seemed like the only person who was less emotional than Trowa. But now, he acts just like a normal nice guy." Catherine paused to think for a brief moment, before continuing. "Do either of you know what made him change so suddenly?"

Again, Ami and Syaoran looked at each other before looking back at Catherine. When they were sure they had the redhead's full attention they motioned towards the soundly sleeping couple.

"She did?" Catherine asked in disbelief. Catherine looked more closely at the sleeping Sakura. _"She is certainly beautiful,"_ Catherine thought to herself. _"But she must also be an exceptional person if she could break through that emotional wall Heero had constructed around himself."_

"Sakura-chan is an amazing person," said Ami. "I'm not at all surprised it took someone like her to get through to Heero's human side."

"I also believe these two share a link that none of us will ever really be able to comprehend." Syaoran's last comment made everyone look once again at the sleeping couple, each wondering exactly what special bond the two possessed.

Shortly before the beginning of the five o'clock circus show, Heero slowly returned to consciousness. Blinking his eyes a few times to clear his head, Heero attempted to determine his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was Sakura shifting slightly against his chest. Heero gave a small smile to the sleeping girl and was enjoying the peace and quiet until he noticed the lights dim and saw the manager standing center stage announcing the beginning of the next show.

"Sakura-san. Sakura-san," whispered Heero as he gently nudged Sakura awake. Sakura's eyes fluttered open and she tilted her head upward to determine who had woken her. Innocent emerald eyes met intense cobalt ones as Heero and Sakura stared at one another. "Hi."

"Hi," answered Sakura in a sweet voice.

"The show is about to start. I thought you might want to go down and watch it without worrying about doing the effects."

"Thank you, Heero-kun. But is it okay if we just watch from here?" asked Sakura with her most cute and innocent expression on her face. Heero just smiled and nodded as he watched Sakura situate herself into a comfortable position in Heero's arms.

During intermission, Ami glanced over at the two empty front row seats next to her. "Should we go check on Sakura-chan and Heero-kun?" asked Ami as she turned to Syaoran who was seated next to her.

"Don't worry about them Ami-san," answered Syaoran. "Look," he said as he pointed to a small alcove at the back of the tent. Ami turned to where Syaoran was pointing and saw Sakura sitting in Heero's lap, laughing and clapping happily. "They have been awake since the beginning of the show."

"They look very happy together," commented Ami as she watched the two smiling and laughing together.

"They aren't the only ones," said Syaoran sweetly as he gently took Ami's hand into his own and gave her a gentle smile. Ami responded by smiling back before resting her head on Syaoran's shoulder.

"Heero-kun," said Sakura. "Look over there. Don't they look cute?" Heero looked to where Sakura was pointing at Syaoran and Ami sitting together holding hands.

"I think they were probably saying the same about us a minute ago." Sakura looked up at him with a confused look on her face. "I saw the two pointing up at us and talking just a moment ago." Sakura looked back down at Ami and Syaoran and saw that Ami was looking back up at Heero and herself. After making eye contact with the beautiful Senshi, Sakura gave a cheerful smile to Ami who returned Sakura's smile with one of her own and the two shared a giggle before cuddling a little closer to each of their respective boyfriends to watch the rest of the show.

Author's Notes:

This is the first time I introduced a character from one of the series' that wasn't one of my main ten. This will happen periodically throughout the entire story, but none of the characters besides my main ten will play any type of significant role.


	14. Sakura and the Circus Fiasco Part III

Outside Tokyo, Japan

After the show, Heero, Sakura, Ami and Syaoran met up with each other and then went to find Trowa and Catherine. Ami and Sakura spent some time playing with the gentler circus animals before the six went out to eat dinner. Following dinner, Heero, Sakura, Ami, and Syaoran took their leave and began the drive back to campus. The night sky was completely clear and a countless number of stars were twinkling overhead as the four teens drove down the coastal road. They were each feeling comfortable and relaxed until suddenly they all felt a magic presence. As soon as the magical presence hit him, Heero pulled over to the side of the road with Syaoran following suit.

"Where is it?" asked Syaoran as everyone got out of the cars.

"I don't know," said Sakura as she scanned the surrounding area. "The feeling keeps changing directions." As far as the four could tell, there wasn't anything around except a beautiful white bird flying along the coast.

Ami looked a little closer at the bird, trying to figure out what type it could be since it didn't quite resemble any birds that would naturally be flying in the area. The bird was a good distance away, so Ami decided to transform into Sailor Mercury and use her visor to get a better look. Once transformed, Ami took out her visor and zoomed in on the creature. When she finally got a clear look, she gasped and shouted, "It's that white bird over there!"

"How do you know, Ami-san?" asked Syaoran as he looked to where Ami was pointing.

"Because it isn't a bird. It has wings, but no body and no head."

While Ami was pointing out the creature to the others, she didn't realize it had changed direction. Apparently the magic energy released by Ami's transformation had attracted the attention of the winged creature. Before they had a chance to react, a strong gust of wind came flying at them, knocking each one to the ground. As they were pulling themselves up, the creature came swooping down, forcing everyone to duck before the flying wings hit them. After missing its target, the creature apparently got bored and began to fly along the road towards the city.

"We've got to stop it," said Syaoran as he got up and then helped Ami to her feet.

"Right," agreed Sakura as Heero was helping her up.

The four hopped into the two sports cars and Heero and Syaoran both dropped their cars into gear and hit the gas resulting in the cars jumping forward and quickly accelerating. "Buckle in tight," said Heero to Sakura as he shifted again and kept steadily accelerating with Syaoran only a few feet behind. When they were decently close to the speeding magical wings, Heero glanced over at Sakura. "Can you use your magic from in the car?"

"Hai," responded Sakura with a nod. "Key that Hides the Power of the Stars. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Sakura Command You Under Contract. Release!" When Sakura's wand appeared she also pulled out a Clow Card. "Stop the flying Clow Card! Windy!" At the command of its Mistress, the Windy Card released from its confines and flew up towards the great white wings. As Windy was about to catch up to the new Clow Card, it turned around and flapped its wings directly at the Windy Card, causing a gust that threw Windy back to the ground and making it change back into a Clow Card. "Oh no! Windy didn't work," cried Sakura.

"Don't worry. We'll capture it," said Heero. It didn't take long for the two top-end sports cards to pull even with the flying Clow Card.

"Firey!" cried Sakura as she released one of her most powerful attack cards. The Firey Card soared up towards the giant wings before loosing its physical form and attacking the Clow Card with a frenzy of flames. Unfortunately, the new Clow Card was too maneuverable and easily dodged each fire attack. When it had put a sufficient amount of space between the attacking flames and itself, the flying Clow Card turned and sent a gust of wind that sent the Firey Card flying and forced it to revert back to card form.

Hoping to catch the Clow Card by surprise, Ami attacked the second the Firey Card was reverted back to card form. "Mercury Aqua Mirage!" Ami's attack did manage to catch the Clow Card by surprise; the ribbons of water successfully wrapped themselves around the white wings. Before the attack could finish however, the creature spread its wings and effectively forced Ami's magical water to dissipate. The attack did serve to anger the creature, as it unfolded its head, attached to a long neck, from between its two enormous wings. Surprisingly, the creature turned out to be quite beautiful, with the head and long elegant neck very closely resembling that of a swan. Unfortunately, looks can be deceiving as the swan-like Clow Card let out a blood curdling scream before turning to face the speeding cars. Once it was faced in the desired direction, it flapped its enormous wings and blew another great gust of wind straight at the sides of the two sports cars. Luckily for Heero and Sakura, the blast was a little behind them so they escaped without any damage. Unfortunately, that meant the wind struck full force on the broadside of Syaoran's car which was following directly behind Heero and Sakura. The second Heero saw the silver Porsche disappear from the rear-view mirror, he tapped the brakes and turned the wheel, effectively making the Ferrari do a 180. He then slammed on the accelerator and drove back to where Syaoran's car was stopped on the side of the road. Fortunately, Syaoran was a superb driver and combined with this lighting fast reaction time, he had managed to get the car under control quickly after the wind attack. When Heero and Sakura got to Syaoran's car they were relieved to see that neither Syaoran nor Ami were injured. Syaoran's front tire was destroyed however, so he wouldn't be driving anywhere soon. The four only had a moment to ensure each other that they were okay before the Clow Card turned toward them again.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a bright white energy beam came streaking towards the Clow Card. The attack caught the card completely off guard and struck directly on the creature's left wing. The attack stunned the creature and caused it to lift its head high in the air and screech in pain. Heero, Syaoran, Ami and Sakura followed the path the blast had come from with their eyes and were surprised to see Ranma standing on the side of the road with Tomoyo not too far away. Tomoyo was taping the entire situation with an enormous smile on her face. The group wasn't distracted for long, for when they saw Ranma preparing for another blast they looked back at the creature to see that it had started to recover from the shock of Ranma's first attack. At that moment, Sakura, Ami, and Syaoran silently decided to attack at the same moment at Ranma.

"Möko Takabisha!"

"Mercury Aqua Mirage!"

"God of Lighting, Come Forth!"

"Watery!"

The four powerful attacks all impacted simultaneously as the creature let out another yell before falling towards the ground. "I Heero, Master of the Cards Command You. Return to Your True Form. Clow Card!" The falling winged Clow Card turned into energy before changing into a Clow Card and floating to Heero's hand. "The Wing Card," stated Heero as he handed the card to Sakura.

"Made from the Fly," added Sakura as she studied the new card. As Sakura gave the card to Syaoran, Tomoyo and Ranma pulled up in Tomoyo's Mercedes. "Thanks, Saotome-kun," said Sakura. "We might not have been able to capture the card without you. By the way, what are you two doing here anyway?"

"We were on our way back from the beach where we were walking under the stars when we saw you fighting that big white thing," answered Ranma. "Tomoyo-san wanted to capture the fight since she figured it was probably a Clow Card. Then I saw it was about to attack you, so I attacked it."

"And I got everything on tape!" exclaimed Tomoyo.

"What was that attack you did?" asked Syaoran.

"It's called the Möko Takabisha," replied Ranma. "It is a blast made from the user's battle aura."

"I had no idea you knew how to use battle magic," said Syaoran, who got a confused look from Ranma. "We call using battle auras as physical attacks battle magic. It is a little more limited than real magic, but properly harnessed it can be quite powerful."

"So does that mean Saotome-kun can use magic too?" asked Ami.

"No," answered Syaoran. "The ability to use regular magic is an inherited trait. For people who have the ability, learning basic magic is usually fairly simple. Battle magic is pretty much the opposite. Everyone has the ability to use battle magic, but learning to create the proper fighting aura and harness the power takes a very skilled martial artist."

"So someone like me probably can't learn any battle magic anytime soon then?" asked Sakura.

"Probably not. You don't have the same fighting spirit as someone like Saotome. Even I can't use battle magic attacks since I spent all my time learning regular magic. Meilin is probably going to start her battle magic training back in Hong Kong soon though."

The discussion about battle magic and regular magic and the Clow Cards continued for a little while longer until the six decided it was time to head back to campus. Sakura used the Create Card to fix Syaoran's tire and then the group all drove back to school.

Tomoeda, Japan

"So I was right," said Cerberus in an unusually serious voice as he stared up at the night sky.

"I thought it was going to be the Li kid that was going to be the catalyst for the legend," said Yue from next to Cerberus. "It seems it is this other guy, Yuy. Be careful, the danger is coming. I can feel it. Guard our Mistress well."

Cerberus nodded his large head before turning back into his small form and taking off to get back to his Mistress in Tokyo. "I hope everything will be okay, because I don't think we even have enough power to protect Sakura if this evil does come to pass…"

Author's Notes:

My second mini-cliffhanger! I know it isn't much of a cliffhanger, but I did warn you all that I'm bad at cliffhangers. Just as a side note, the concept of 'battle magic' is something I made up to help explain Ranma's techniques. I think it adds to the story a little bit, but won't really matter a whole lot. Keep reading, cause Chapter 6 has another interesting twist to add to the story 


	15. Sakura and Heero's Crazy Weekend Part I

Chapter 6: Sakura and Heero's Crazy Weekend

Tokyo, Japan

"Surprise! Happy Birthday!" yelled Syaoran, Ami, Sakura, Heero, Ukyo, Eriol, Duo, and Minako as Ranma led Tomoyo into the common room of the guys' suite. Ranma had taken Tomoyo to dinner earlier to give everyone else a chance to set up Tomoyo's surprise party.

"Happy Birthday Tomoyo-chan," greeted Sakura as she gave her best friend a hug.

"Thanks everyone," said Tomoyo in a slightly shaken voice since she still hadn't completely gotten over the surprise. "But today is the second. My birthday isn't until tomorrow."

"We know," said Sakura. "But all of you are leaving so early tomorrow morning for your biology trip that we wanted to have your party while we were all together."

"Here's the cake," said a very cheery Minako as she led Tomoyo over to the table.

"Cute!" squealed Tomoyo when she caught sight of the cake. The cake was a circular dual layer cake with white frosting. In the center of the cake was a picture of all ten of them and along the edge were eighteen candles, each one a different color representing each year of Tomoyo's life.

"Blow out the candles Tomoyo-san," urged Ukyo. Tomoyo took a huge gulp of air and proceeded to blow out each of the candles. Just as Tomoyo started celebrating her triumph, Syaoran flicked his wrist and used a little magic to relight each and every candle. This caused a whine by Tomoyo and a laugh from everyone else. After Tomoyo successfully extinguished the candles a second time, they cut the cake and began giving Tomoyo her presents. Ranma had gotten Tomoyo a small gold locket on a chain that opened up to reveal the same group photo they had used on the cake. Ami and Syaoran gave her an expensive book on fashion design and Ukyo, Eriol, Minako, and Duo had all pooled their money to get Tomoyo a brand new mini audio-visual editing station. This allowed Tomoyo to edit all the videos she loved to take in her own suite. The last gift was from Heero and Sakura. Tomoyo opened the carefully wrapped box, but was a little confused as she pulled out the two contents. One of the presents looked like a pair of high tech sunglasses and the other was a memory disk drive with a small joystick attached to it.

"Put the glasses on," said Sakura when she saw the confused look on Tomoyo's face.

Tomoyo hesitantly placed the glasses on her face, but once they were on, Tomoyo's expression changed to one of pure amazement. "Wow!" she exclaimed. The reason she was so excited was because the glasses were actually the receiver for a very small, very advanced floating camera. The display overlapped what she was seeing with her own eyes, but was surprisingly distinguishable, allowing Tomoyo to do anything necessary at the same time she was watching what was being displayed by the camera.

"You can control the motion with the joystick," explained Heero. "The button on the top is record, and the other buttons control the zoom and upward and downward movement. It should be auto-focus, so you don't have to worry about blurry pictures."

"Thanks guys," said Tomoyo sincerely. "I love all the presents." She smiled to all the guys and gave each girl, plus Ranma, a hug of thanks.

The rest of the evening was spent just talking together until the group decided to turn in for the night since they had an early day the next morning.

Author's Notes:

I know this was a really short installment to begin Chapter 6, but it was necessary to set the scene for the rest of the Chapter. Please continue reading and as always, reviews are always welcome!


	16. Sakura and Heero's Crazy Weekend Part II

Tokyo, Japan

Sakura woke the next morning and went outside into the common room of the girls' suite to find it unusually quiet and empty. She glanced at the clock and saw that everyone must have left a number of hours ago. For some reason Sakura found herself feeling very lonely. She had gotten used to having the other four girls around and even Kero and Spinel Sun weren't there since they wanted to get out of the dorm room and the Biology trip was a perfect opportunity. Then Sakura remembered that at least Heero should be in his suite, so she quickly showered and dressed before going down the hall to see if Heero would keep her company. When Heero opened the door, Sakura gave him a very excited greeting. Heero was a little surprised at first when Sakura suddenly jumped into him and gave him a hug. He wasn't expecting her so early in the morning and definitely wasn't expecting her obvious excitement at seeing him.

"Good morning," greeted Heero once he overcame his shock.

"Good morning," replied Sakura while still hanging onto Heero's neck.

"Is everything okay?"

"Now it is," said Sakura as she finally let go of Heero. "I was lonely with nobody here."

Heero just nodded and smiled at her cuteness before inviting her in. "Would you like some breakfast?" asked Heero as he walked back into the kitchen to finish his preparations for cooking breakfast. "I was just making some."

"Hai," answered Sakura. "Can I help with anything?"

"Everything is pretty much all done," said Heero as he flipped a pancake. "But you could poor some juice. We should have some in the fridge." Sakura poured two glasses of orange juice and took them to the table. As she walked back into the kitchen to ask if there was anything else she could do, she saw Heero put the last pancake on the stack he had warming in the oven and also put the bacon and eggs on two plates. Sakura picked up the stack of pancakes and followed Heero to the table where they each put down the plates they were carrying before sitting down to eat.

"How's the food?" asked Heero as he watched Sakura taste a pancake.

Sakura answered with a vigorous nod of her head. "Delicious! It tastes just like my Otousan's. Thank you, Heero-kun." Heero nodded as the two finished eating mostly in silence.

After the couple finished eating and washing the dishes, Heero suggested that they go take a walk in the park since it was such a nice day out. In the park, Heero walked along at a normal pace, following the extremely hyper Sakura who was running and spinning around as she happily skipped down the path. Heero couldn't help but smile at Sakura who looked as if she felt like she was only a kid once again. Sakura finally stopped bouncing around and waited by a bench near the edge of the lake in the middle of the park for Heero to catch up. When Heero finally reached the spot where Sakura was waiting, he was greeted by the enthusiastic girl jumping up and giving him a tight hug around the neck. When she let him go, Sakura continued her romp through the park with a glorious smile on her face.

As the day went by, Sakura eventually lost some of her extra energy and was now hanging onto Heero's arm and resting her head against his shoulder as the couple continued through the park. They had already been around the entire park a number of times, but neither felt like going back to the dorms yet and were quite thoroughly enjoying being alone together. They eventually found a large tree in a secluded part of the park where they decided to sit in peace. They had both come close to drifting asleep, when their magical senses suddenly picked up the feeling of a Clow Card. Heero helped Sakura up from her position of resting against him as they leaned against the tree. They were about to release their Clow Keys when they noticed a strikingly beautiful woman walking towards them. As she got closer, Heero and Sakura could see that she had very pale cream colored skin with long flowing platinum blonde hair and was dressed in all white.

"Could she be the Clow Card?" asked Sakura who was mesmerized by the pure beauty of the woman walking towards them.

"I'm not sure," answered Heero. "I can feel some magical presence coming from her, but I feel another magic coming from somewhere else."

"That's what I thought," confirmed Sakura. "But I can't determine where the other Clow Card is."

The pair kept their eyes fixed on the approaching Clow Card, but kept their magical senses attentive to the feeling they were getting from elsewhere. At about fifty yards from the two magicians, the woman stopped and lifter her pale blue eyes to stare at the two mages. She then closed her eyes, and a pair of beautiful white wings emerged from her back. The move shocked both Heero and Sakura, for the effect gave the Clow Card an appearance that was remarkably similar to that of an angel.

"Wow," gasped Sakura in complete awe at the sight in front of her. "She's so beautiful."

"Well, now we can be sure that she is a Clow Card," stated Heero in a serious voice. "Key that Hides the Power of Space. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Heero Command You Under Contract. Release!"

When Heero released his Clow Sword, Sakura took the hint and did the same. "Key that Hides the Power of the Stars. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Sakura Command You Under Contract. Release!"

When the Clow Card saw its opponents had armed themselves, it mimicked their move by creating an energy bow and arrow, very similar to the one used by Yue. The Card fired one arrow at the couple, which was easily deflected by Heero. Heero and Sakura then watched at the Clow Card took to the air and began firing numerous energy arrows at the pair, forcing them to run and dodge in every direction to keep from getting hit. As soon as she got a clear area, Sakura released the Fly Card and took to the air to attack the angelic looking Clow Card. Once airborne, Sakura quickly released Windy and ordered her Sakura Card to trap the flying angel. The Windy Card took form and quickly flew over to its opponent before turning into a tornado of air and capturing the rogue Clow Card within. Sakura was a little surprised at the ease in which Windy captured the angelic Clow Card, and was about to change it back into card form, when the feeling she had earlier of another Clow Card suddenly flared up and distracted her. In an instant, the tornado surrounding the angel disappeared and in its place was not the single Clow Card Sakura had been fighting, but five copies of the Clow Card.

"Oh no! How do I fight five?" worried Sakura aloud. Before she could do anything, all five angels withdrew their energy bows and began rapid firing arrows at the floating Sakura. It took all her effort just to keep herself from getting skewered by the flying arrows of energy and was therefore unable to release any attack cards to fight back.

Down below, Heero watched with both hands clenched into fists and an angry expression plastered on his face. He felt completely helpless down on the ground while Sakura was fighting for her life up in the air. The longer he stood there watching, the more angry he got; but it wasn't until he saw Sakura just barely dodge an arrow, causing her to get a cut on her left leg that he lost it. The moment he saw her injured and heard her cry of pain, he yelled out and let loose a blast of magical energy. His outburst resulted in all the new Clow Cards the group had captured being transported from Sakura's deck into Heero's hands. Very similar to the way he acted when he first created the Key of Space; Heero took hold of his sword and the Wall Card and began to chant. "Card Created by Clow. Discard Your Old Form and be Reborn, Under the Name Heero; Your New Master." As Heero finished the spell, the Wall Card started to glow. Slowly, the glow surrounding the Wall Card disappeared and the card floated down to Heero's hand. The change in the card's physical appearance was obvious. Instead of the completely black back, the back of the Clow Card was now white with a picture of Heero's magic circle in red in the center. The front no longer had a picture of the Shield Card, but instead it was a new picture of a great white wall, set on a red background. The border on the front of the card was white, just like the back, but had a planet at the top and a star on each side. The bottom of the card still had the words 'Wall Card' etched on, but below that, where there used to be empty space, now had Heero's name. Heero took hold of his new card, threw it in the air, and brought the tip of his sword down right on the center of it. "Place a protective barrier in front of Sakura! Wall!" In a flash of light, the Wall Card released from its confines and turned into a beam of energy, streaking up towards Sakura. Once it had reached its destination, the Card turned into a great wall, right in front of Sakura, effectively allowing her to stop moving since it was repelling the number of arrows being thrown in its direction.

Sakura looked down to Heero from her vantage point up in the sky. "How did you release the Wall Card?" she asked in amazement.

"I'm not sure," replied Heero who had apparently come out of his trance state. "I just sort of remembered the chant you used when you said you were trying to change the Color Card into a Sakura Card and modified it a little to fit my situation."

Sakura took a moment to think about what Heero had just done, but before she could finish her thought process, she noticed the five angels had all started maneuvering around the wall Heero had erected to get a shot at Sakura again. It was much simpler for Sakura to dodge the incoming attacks this time around, since she could use Heero's wall for cover, but she was still having difficulty getting enough time to use an attack card.

Heero saw Sakura's struggles and looked over the cards he held in his hand: Drain, Magma, Wing, Color, and Remove. Heero made a quick decision and pulled out Drain and Wing. "Cards Created by Clow. Discard Your Old Form and be Reborn, Under the Name Heero; Your New Master." Similar to what happened when he transformed the Wall Card, the Drain and Wing Cards started to glow, and then changed into Heero Cards. The back and borders of the new cards were the same as that of the Wall Card, but each had a unique picture. The Drain Card had a picture of an old mage with his hand extended with a small green flame burning in his palm and the Wing Card had a pair of pure white wings forming a circle. "Give me the power of flight. Wing! Lend me your strength! Drain!" At the call of release, the Wing Card transformed from card form into a pair of white wings on Heero's back, just like the power of the Fly Card gave wings to Sakura. The Drain Card also released and created a dim green glow around Heero's sword. Heero used his new wings to take flight, and quickly made his way up to where Sakura was fighting off the five angels.

"Heero-kun?" questioned a surprised Sakura who hadn't expected Heero to be able to fly. "The Wing Card allows you to fly?"

"Hai. What do you say the two of us finish capturing this Clow Card together?" Heero suggested with a smile. Sakura looked at Heero and gave a smile of her own and nodded. Then Heero recalled the Wall Card, and the couple flew straight at the five enemies.

"Attack and disable the five Clow Cards! Windy! Watery!" said Sakura as she released two of her favorite cards. Windy and Watery combined their powers and created a large Wind and Water tornado which managed to trap three of the angels inside. Meanwhile, Heero flew towards the remaining two angels and attacked with his sword. Inwardly he was thankful that he spent so much time training with the sword with Li, since it made his reaction times with the weapon substantially faster. This allowed Heero to easily deflect all attacks sent in his direction, and was able to disable both remaining angels with the assistance of the Drain Card's power.

When all five angels were helplessly floating in the air, Heero made is way over to Sakura, and the two started sealing the card. "I Heero/Sakura, Master/Mistress of the Cards Command You. Return to Your True Form. Clow Card!" Heero and Sakura both chanted in synchronization with one another. When they were finished, four of the angels combined together into a beam of energy and flew towards Heero, while the remaining angel turned into another beam of energy that flew towards Sakura. When the two beams of energy arrived at the Card Captors, each one turned into a card and floated down to their hands. Both new Clow Cards were of the older style, with the black back and borders. The card Heero held had a picture of the Twin on the front and had the name Replicate Card. Sakura's new Clow Card was the Angel, and it had a picture of both the Song and Storm Cards on the front.

"Here you go, Heero-kun," said Sakura as she took one last look at the Angel Card. "You seem to have control over the new Clow Cards, so I guess you should hold onto these." Sakura turned to hand the card to Heero, but was surprised to find him slowly floating towards the ground. "Heero-kun? Are you alright?"

"I feel a little weak," responded Heero meekly. "I can't concentrate." Suddenly, Heero's wings disappeared and his sword reverted back to it's key form and Heero started falling towards the ground.

"Heero-kun!" screamed Sakura as she raced after him, managing to catch him at the last second and slowly bring him and herself down to the ground. "Are you okay, Heero-kun?"

"Sakura-san? I just feel a little tired," Heero said right before he lost consciousness.

Sakura took the unconscious Heero and held his head in her lap. "Heero-kun," Sakura whispered to his sleeping form. "I remember what that was like. How tired I got after changing just one Clow Card." Sakura then released the Power Card, and used her extra strength to pick up Heero and fly them both back to the dorm.

Author's Notes:

I told you there would be a new twist to the story. I thought I was pretty creative making Heero the master of the new set of Clow Cards. What do you think? Good idea or not?


	17. Sakura and Heero's Crazy Weekend Part II...

Tokyo, Japan

A few hours after the capture of the Angel and Replicate Cards, Heero woke up to find himself back in his dorm room. As he tried to sit up, he felt something on top of him. Heero looked down to find Sakura sleeping in a chair next to his bed with her head on top of him. He was hesitant to move, out of the fear of waking her from her peaceful looking slumber, but eventually he saw her start to wake up. When Sakura's eyes finally fluttered open, and the cute Card Captor looked up towards Heero, she was greeted by a pair of cobalt blue eyes and a warm smile.

"Hi," said Heero when his eyes met with Sakura's emerald green ones. "Sleep well?"

"Hai. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine now, thanks to you. Thank you, Sakura-san." Sakura blushed a little at Heero's praise, before getting up from her position of lying on top of Heero. After Sakura got off of him, Heero sat up and stretched out his stiff muscles. "Do you know what happened to me?"

"Hai. The same thing used to happen to me when I first changed the Clow Cards into Sakura Cards. According to Kero-chan, it takes a lot of magical energy to transform Clow Cards, so when I first did it, I always got real sleepy. Eventually you will get used to it, and will be able to change the Clow Cards to Heero Cards without as much effort."

"Understood," stated Heero. "What time is it anyway?"

"It's almost 7 o'clock," answered Sakura.

"I'm a little hungry. How about we go get some dinner?"

"Hai! I'm hungry too." The couple then got up and stretched a bit before heading out to find somewhere to eat.

By the time Heero and Sakura had gotten out the door, they had decided to go to the same sushi place they went when they fought the Wall and Remove Cards. It had become one of their favorite places to go together since it gave them some time alone when they were walking to the place, plus they both liked the food. "Is there anything in particular you want to do tomorrow, Sakura-san?" asked Heero as the couple walked to the restaurant.

"I don't know," said Sakura as she thought. "I hear the beach is really nice."

"How about we finish getting dinner, and then head back to the dorms to eat," suggested Heero. "Then we can finish the homework we have due on Monday together and go to the beach tomorrow?"

"Okay, I guess," whined Sakura. "But I have so much math homework, and it takes me so long to do it."

Heero chuckled lightly at Sakura's complaint. "I'll help you with the math. You are a lot better at it then you give yourself credit for, and we'll be done in no time."

"Thanks, Heero-kun," said Sakura with a smile. The rest of the trip to and from the restaurant passed peacefully and it didn't take too long for the couple to arrive back at the dorms with their food.

"Would you rather work in your suite or mine?" asked Heero.

"Can we work in yours?" asked Sakura. "I might fall asleep if we work in mine."

Heero laughed at Sakura's comment before opening the door to his room and letting the two of them in.

After they finished eating, Sakura and Heero moved to Heero's room to study. For the moment, Sakura was sitting at Heero's desk to make sure she wouldn't fall asleep, and Heero was on his bed since there wasn't enough room at the desk for two people. Sakura was purposely saving math for last, since she hated it so much, so for the moment she was finishing her work quite quickly. However, it wasn't long before Heero was getting up every few minutes to help the struggling Sakura with her math while he was breezing through his own. After a brief period of time, Sakura started to get tired of Heero continuously getting up to help her, and moved to join Heero on his bed. The work went much quicker with the two lying next to each other on Heero's bed since Heero didn't have to keep changing his train of thought. Eventually, the couple finished the last problem on Sakura's homework and the emerald eyed girl celebrated by giving a grateful hug to Heero. Despite the fact that they had both finished their homework, neither Heero nor Sakura wanted to get up off of the bed and spent the time just lying down and talking together. In no time at all, both became very tired and drifted off to sleep without even noticing.

While they were sleeping, Sakura unconsciously moved herself a little closer to Heero's warm body since she had no blanket on top of her. At the same time, Heero, unaware of his own actions, wrapped a protective arm around the slender beauty and the two continued sleeping while cuddled up to one another.

Hokkaido, Japan

On the island of Hokkaido, Syaoran, Ami, Tomoyo, Ranma, Eriol, Ukyo, Duo, and Minako were resting in their large tent after their first day of the biology trip. The weather was very nice, and even though they had to do a lot of work surveying the different plant and animal life, all eight were having a great time.

"Cute!" exclaimed Tomoyo, surprising the other seven in the tent. "Sakura-chan and Heero-kun are cuddling together in Heero's room."

The others looked at Tomoyo as if she was crazy, until they noticed that she had the glasses for her new camera on her face. "Did you leave your camera back at school so you could spy on them?" asked Ami, who was very well acquainted with Tomoyo's obsession of Sakura's cuteness.

"Hai!" answered Tomoyo with a huge smile on her face. "And it looks like the two of them fell asleep studying on Heero's bed. They look so cute together!" Tomoyo then took off the glasses to show everyone who wanted to see. Ami, Minako, and Ukyo wanted to see the couple first, each one of whom squealed a little at the cute sight in front of them. Then Duo and Eriol asked to see. Eriol was quite pleased that Sakura seemed to enjoy being with Heero so much, since he still felt a little responsibility for Sakura as he was the reincarnation of Clow Reed. Duo, on the other hand, was completely shocked. Even though the others had confirmed what Tomoyo had said about the couple cuddling together, Duo still couldn't believe that Heero would ever be that emotional. He couldn't wait to get back to Tokyo so he could bug Heero about sleeping with Sakura.

"I'm glad Heero-kun and Sakura-chan gave me this camera. Those two are just the cutest couple I have ever seen and I wouldn't want to miss this scene for the world."

Next to the teens, Kero and Spinel Sun shared a knowing look with each other. When Spinel Sun had arrived in Tokyo, he had confirmed what Kero and Yue remembered about the legend that involved the soul mates of the Master and Mistress of the Clow Cards. They had agreed to not tell Eriol about the legend, since they figured that there must be some reason Clow had kept the memory from reappearing in his reincarnated form. They also refrained from mentioning it to any of the other teens, afraid that Sakura and Heero would find out. Neither Kero or Spinel Sun knew what possible problems might arise if the couple felt they were going to be responsible for such a disaster.

Author's Notes:

This part of the chapter doesn't serve too much purpose, but can't you just imagine Heero and Sakura cuddling together innocently? I think it's cute sounding.


	18. Sakura and Heero's Crazy Weekend Part IV

Tokyo, Japan

Late Sunday morning, Heero and Sakura both woke up simultaneously when a ray of sunshine came in through the window and landed directly on their faces. Neither one realized at first that they were holding one another, but as they finished regaining their wits they found that it felt very right waking up together.

"Good morning," greeted Heero as he looked down at the angel cuddled up next to him. "Did you sleep well?"

"Hai," answered Sakura sweetly. "Waking up with you feels really comfortable for some reason."

Heero just smiled at Sakura's remark and pulled her a little closer to himself. Sakura responded by moving her head a little closer into Heero's chest. The couple rested for a little longer, enjoying the comfort provided by being in each others company until they both decided it was getting late in the day. When they eventually got up, Sakura made her way back to her room to clean up and change before they went to the beach.

Sakura arrived back in Heero's room dressed in a pair of short tan shorts and a small pink T-shirt. Under her clothes she was wearing her swimsuit for the trip to the beach. Heero was dressed in a pair of black swim trunks and a green tank top. "Ready to go?" asked Heero. He was answered by a vigorous nod and a bright smile from Sakura.

It was a quick drive to the beach and when Heero and Sakura arrived they actually found it surprisingly empty. It was a beautiful day out, and therefore they had expected the beach to be crowded. After picking a spot on the sand to put down their towels and food they had brought, Sakura took off her shirt and shorts and stood before Heero in only her bathing suit. She felt a little embarrassed, since she was wearing her only two-piece suit she owned. Tomoyo had given it to her before they left for school, but Sakura was always too embarrassed to give up her one-piece swimsuit for the skimpy bikini style suit. It was pink, of course, but both the top and the bottom were fairly small and therefore Sakura was feeling a little self-conscious. Her worries were calmed, however, when she saw the look of affection on Heero's face.

"You look beautiful," complimented Heero when he saw Sakura standing nervously in front of him in her suit. Her perfectly toned athletic body looked gorgeous in the pink bikini suit. He supposed she wasn't the most curvaceous girl he had ever seen, but that didn't change the fact that she was still the most beautiful. Her slim figure, flat stomach, and perfect creamy skin was perfectly complimented by her auburn hair, beautiful eyes, and cute smile.

"Thank you, Heero-kun," said Sakura nervously as she stared at the ground and started to blush. While Sakura was staring at the ground in embarrassment, Heero took the opportunity to surprise her and picked her up into his arms. This resulted in a startled yelp from Sakura as she grabbed onto Heero's neck to keep her balance while Heero took them both towards the water. Once he reached the shoreline, Heero made his way into the water, and when he was deep enough, he plunged both Sakura and himself into the clear blue water. When both their heads emerged from under the water, both Sakura and Heero were laughing happily. Sakura gave Heero a hug around the neck, and while he let his guard down, she jokingly pushed his head back under the water. The couple continued to play around in the water for the next hour before going back onto the beach to lie down on their towels.

While they had been drying off in the sun, Heero and Sakura had fallen asleep next to each other on the beach with Sakura resting her head on Heero's chest. The couple was rudely awakened, however, when they felt a Clow Card presence real close by. They awoke to find that everyone else on the beach seemed to be frozen in time. They could see one group of people seemingly stuck in mid-run during a beach volleyball game, and another group frozen in mid-air jumping out of the water.

"What's going on? This is similar to what the Time Card does, except I still have Time in the deck," said Sakura as she took out her deck of Clow Cards to make sure she hadn't somehow lost a card.

"What's that?" voiced Heero when he noticed a glowing blue object approaching the couple. Both Heero and Sakura could feel the Clow Card aura coming from the approaching object so they quickly released their Keys and prepared for some type of attack. As the glowing Clow Card got closer, Heero and Sakura each let down their guard slightly since it looked like the Clow Card was only a young boy. It obviously wasn't a normal boy, because his whole body had a blue hue and the obvious Clow aura coming from it. The most striking trait of the new Clow Card was it's eyes, which were a bright glowing yellow color.

"What kind of Clow Card is that?" questioned Sakura. "It looks just like a harmless little boy."

When Sakura finished talking, the boy stopped walking, and the aura surrounding it got a little brighter and a little bigger. Then he closed his eyes and in a flash of blue light it split into two copies of itself.

"I don't know what this card can do, but it feels powerful," commented Heero as he once again took up a defensive stance.

"But it doesn't look like it is an aggressive card," said Sakura who still had her wand by her side. "Maybe this is a nice card, like Wood."

Sakura's comment that the card might not be aggressive made Heero think for a moment as he too, let his guard down once again. When the two copies of the Clow Card saw the Card Captors weren't going to attack, they began to walk towards the couple. When they were within arms reach, each copy of the Clow Card held out a hand. Heero and Sakura both looked at one another before reaching out themselves and touching the outstretched hands of the Clow Card. At the exact moment that Heero and Sakura touched the Clow Card, a spark emitted from their hands, and two small balls of energy appeared. One energy ball emerged from where Sakura touched one of the twin Clow Cards and was pink in color, and the other energy ball was white and came from Heero. The two energy balls floated up into the air, and then slowly they merged into one, creating a single silver energy ball for a moment before fading away into nothing.

As soon as the silver energy ball faded away, the two pieces of the Clow Card smiled and then walked backwards a few steps. Once it was out of arms reach, the Clow Card merged back into its single form. Neither Sakura nor Heero still knew what was going on, but what the Clow Card did next completely surprised both of them; it spoke.

"I have been watching the two of you," said the Clow Card. "You two are the ones." Before Sakura or Heero could think of anything to say to the Clow Card it changed into card form. As soon as the Clow Card was in card form, time seemed to resume and life continued as if nothing had happened. The new card floated over in between both Heero and Sakura where both Card Captors reached for and grasped the card at the same moment, then moved closer together so they could see what card had just dropped into their laps.

"What is this?" stated Sakura in shock. "It doesn't have a front." The card that Heero and Sakura were holding had the black back and borders of the other Clow Cards, but where there should have been a picture and a name, instead it was blank.

"_What kind of weird power did that Clow Card have?"_ thought Heero to himself.

"I don't know, but it would have been much easier to figure out if this card had some information on it," said Sakura.

Heero snapped his head towards Sakura and stared wide eyed at her. "What did you just say?"

"I was just trying to answer your question about the Clow Card," said Sakura a little shakily out of nervousness from the intense look Heero was giving her.

"I didn't say anything, Sakura-san," said Heero.

"But I heard you!" exclaimed Sakura. "You said you wanted to know what kind of weird power the Card had."

"I thought that, but never said it."

"_But, I heard him,"_ thought Sakura to herself. _"I know I did."_

"I didn't say anything, Sakura-san. I swear," said Heero.

"I didn't say anything," said Sakura.

Heero thought about the situation for a second and then thought to himself, _"Sakura-san. Can you hear me?"_

"Hai. Of course I can," responded Sakura in a confused voice.

"Sakura-san," said Heero in a caring voice. "I didn't say that. I only thought it to myself."

"But," started Sakura. "But… How is that possible?"

"I don't know," answered Heero. When Heero answered Sakura, the card the couple was holding started to glow. They both looked down at it and when it stopped glowing, and were surprised to see that the card now had both a picture and a title. The picture was split into three sections. One section held a picture same as the Mirror Card, one section had Illusion, and the last section was Time. As they looked at the bottom of the card, they saw that the card they now possessed was the Telepathy Card.

"I suppose this explains why we can hear each other's thoughts," said Sakura as she stared at the card the couple was holding. "I wonder how long the effects of this Telepathy Card last."

"Who knows," said Heero with a shrug.

"_Oh well,"_ thought Sakura. _"I don't mind being telepathically connected to Heero-kun."_

"Uhh, Sakura-san," said Heero. "I can hear you, don't forget."

Sakura yelped when she realized that Heero had heard her thoughts. Then she blushed and looked down at her feet again to avoid eye contact with Heero since she felt embarrassed over what she had been thinking. Heero responded by pulling Sakura into a gentle hug and thought _"It's okay, Sakura-san. I can see some advantages to being connected with you too."_ Sakura looked up to find Heero looking gently down at her with caring eyes which made Sakura feel much better and she hugged him back.

Tokyo, Japan

"Welcome back everyone!" greeted Sakura as the four girls walked back into their suite upon return from the biology trip.

"How was your weekend, Sakura-chan?" asked Tomoyo with a hint of mischievousness in her voice.

"Yeah Sakura," added Minako with a grin. "Did you have a good weekend with Heero?"

Sakura could see that Ukyo was grinning along with Minako and Tomoyo, and Ami was blushing ever so slightly as she purposely avoided eye contact with Sakura. Sakura was about to ask what was going on, when Heero sent her a message via their new telepathic link. _"Sakura-san. They know we fell asleep together on Saturday night."_

Sakura gasped a little when Heero told her before sending back, _"But how?"_

"_Daidouji-san probably left the camera we gave her here and saw the two of us through the headset. I assume she probably told all the girls too, since Duo and Hiiragizawa obviously know."_ Sakura could tell that Heero was thinking with the slightest bit of spite in his thoughts. She could only assume it was because Duo and Eriol were pestering him about sleeping with her.

"_What do we do?"_

"_Well, we obviously can't deny it, so I guess just play along and don't let it get to you."_

"Sakura-chan. Sakura-chan. Are you listening to me?" asked Tomoyo as she saw Sakura standing there seemingly spaced out.

"H-hai, Tomoyo-chan," responded Sakura who had forgotten about the other girls when she was talking telepathically with Heero. "I'm sorry, Tomoyo-chan. What did you say?"

"I asked you if it was comfortable sleeping with Yuy-kun."

Sakura didn't know how to answer Tomoyo, so instead she just stared at the ground as her face turned a bright shade of red. "H-how did you know, Tomoyo-chan?"

Tomoyo smiled brightly at her best friend. "We saw it on my camera. It's okay Sakura-chan. We know it was innocent. We're all just glad that you are happy with Yuy-kun."

"Thank you, Tomoyo-chan," said Sakura as she gave her best friend a hug. She then gave a hug to her other three roommates as well, and helped them unpack their stuff.

"_Sakura-san,"_ Sakura heard in her mind.

"_Hai, Heero-kun."_

"_Let's not tell everybody about the telepathic link. If we do, I don't think we will ever hear the end of it. And besides, I like knowing that I can talk to you whenever I want without others interfering."_

"_Hai, Heero-kun. I agree. We'll keep it as our little secret."_ Sakura then smiled to herself as she continued to help her roommates get everything back in order and listened to their stories about the biology trip.

Author's Notes:

First of all, although it is pretty obvious, I just want to clarify that all thoughts/telepathic comments are all in _italics_. Secondly, I did another twist in this part of the chapter. I'm sure I'm not the first to make telepathic connections between characters, but I like my ideas anyway. Well, now you can be certain that Sakura and Heero are going to end up together, but are you sure about the others? We'll see…


	19. Sakura's Adventures on the Soccer Field ...

Chapter 7: Sakura's Adventures on the Soccer Field

Tokyo, Japan

"_Sakura-san. Sakura-san," _Heero said to Sakura through their telepathic link. _"It's time for you to get up. We have to leave in about an hour."_

"_Ten more minutes, Heero-kun. Please?"_ replied Sakura who wasn't quite yet ready to get up.

Heero couldn't help but laugh at Sakura's cuteness. _"Alright, Sakura-san. But if you aren't up in ten minutes I'm coming over there to wake you up in person."_

"_Well, then maybe I'll just have to stay in bed for more than ten minutes,"_ joked Sakura.

As it turned out, Heero had been forced to physically go into Sakura's room and get her out of bed. Not that he really minded though, for it made the day just that much better being able to see Sakura's beautiful green eyes and lovely smile to start the day.

It was the morning of the school's first soccer game of the season and all the guys were up and about, getting ready for the game. Minako was awake as well since she and Sakura were to go to the game with the cheerleading squad. Ami was also just getting up since she had agreed to go to the game early since she apparently had a good strategic mind and the coach seemed to like to bounce game strategies off of her. Tomoyo and Ukyo were going to arrive later since both the team and cheerleading squad had to arrive a good while before the start of the game.

When it came time to leave, Heero walked with Minako, Eriol, and Syaoran to the parking lot to pick up their cars and pick up the other four in front of the dorm. "So do you know who the starters for the game are going to be?" inquired Minako.

"The coach hasn't officially announced the starting positions yet, but he did tell all of us that we would be starting," answered Syaoran.

"Unfortunately, we seem to have made a few enemies on the team since we have stolen a few of the starting position from the returning players," said Eriol with a shrug. Neither him nor the other four really cared that the upper-classmen didn't like the five of them much, as long as it didn't spill over too much onto the field.

"We're meeting everyone in front of the dorm building right?" double checked Minako as she opened her car door. Her question was answered by a nod from Heero, who was closest to her at the time.

"What's taking them so long," complained Duo from out in front of the dorm where he was waiting with Ranma, Ami, and Sakura. "It's freezing out here."

Just at that moment, a white Ford Mustang convertible pulled up in front of the group, stopping right before Sakura. "Hey beautiful," greeted the driver. "Hop in and I'll give you a ride to the game." Sakura bent her head down a fraction to get a better look at the driver and sighed. Inside the car was none other than Katsaguri Tohru.

"That's okay," Sakura said as sweetly as she could, but still with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Heero-kun is giving me a ride."

"Forget about Yuy. I'll bet his car isn't near as nice as this baby," replied Tohru as he gently caressed the dash of his Mustang.

Duo, who had been standing next to Sakura overheard Tohru's comment and couldn't help but laugh. "You think… this car… is… nicer than… Heero's?" asked Duo between gasps of air as struggled to get enough oxygen while laughing so hard.

Duo's outburst made Tohru extremely upset. "And what possible car could Yuy have that is better than mine!?" he shouted.

"See for yourself," said Ranma calmly as he pointed down the street.

Tohru turned his head and looked behind him. When he caught sight of the four cars driving up in a single file line, his jaw dropped. "What the…" he stuttered.

The four cars drove up and stopped right in front of the dorms with Heero in front, followed closely by Minako, Syaoran, and finally Eriol. Sakura quickly ran over to Heero's car and jumped in before Tohru could say anything more to her. Once in the car, she gave Heero a tight hug around the neck to make herself feel better. She wasn't exactly sure why, but Tohru made her feel extremely uncomfortable. It wasn't the fact that he was constantly hitting on her that made her uncomfortable, since there were a couple people in high school that did the same thing and none of them made her feel as uncomfortable as she felt around Tohru. _"I really don't like being around him,"_ Sakura told Heero telepathically to make sure Tohru wouldn't hear her. "_He makes me feel really uncomfortable."_

"_Don't worry about him, Sakura-san,"_ consoled Heero as he very gently ran his fingers through Sakura's silky auburn hair. _"I won't let him do anything that will cause you any harm or pain. I promise."_

"Thanks, Heero-kun," whispered Sakura as she nuzzled her head a little farther into Heero's neck before finally letting go.

"So Katsaguri," chided Duo as he stood at the open door of Minako's car. "You were saying something about Heero's car not being as nice as yours?" Duo could see Tohru staring with a hint of anger and jealousy in his eyes at Sakura's tight embrace with Heero. Duo just continued to laugh at his soccer team's captain even after Tohru shot a dirty look at the Gundam pilot. While Tohru sat steaming mad in his car, Duo got into Minako's NSX, Ami into Syaoran's Porsche, and Ranma got into Eriol's Jaguar. Heero then shifted his Ferrari into gear and started off towards the other side of Tokyo where their opponent's school was located, with Syaoran, Minako, and Eriol following right behind.

"Alright everyone!" shouted the coach. "Bring it in so I can assign starting positions." The team all jogged over to the visiting team bench and huddled around the coach. "Alright. As I said before, the report on this team is that it has a very powerful offense as well as a good defense. Plus they have the top rated goalie in the league. In response to this, we are going to play a formation of three forwards and a pair of midfielders. These five will have to play with extra energy since our entire offense is based on only these five. The other side of the field will have three back midfielders and a pair of close goal guards. I don't expect any of the five back fielders to every pass the half-field line so I am counting on the five front field players to get back on defense as well as control the offense. Now, the two front midfielders are going to be Saotome and Hiiragizawa. Saotome, you have the right side of the field, and Hiiragizawa the left. Left wing will be Maxwell. Make sure to keep good communications with Hiiragizawa to make our left side offense as strong as possible. Right wing is going to be Li. Same goes for you and Saotome that went for Maxwell and Hiiragizawa. Now, the center forward is going to be Yuy."

Before the coach could continue, Tohru interrupted. "What!? You are giving my position to Yuy?"

"Calm down Katsaguri. I know you are the captain and have been the center striker the last three years, but we need as much offensive power in our five attackers as we can muster. Yuy will be the center forward and will be responsible for coordinating our attack. Go talk with Mizuno-san and she will explain what we have decided will work best as an attack strategy. Katsaguri is the center back midfielder and the rest of the positions are…" Heero and the others didn't stay to hear who else would be starting on defense. It wasn't really any of their concern. Instead they walked over to where Ami was sitting to find out what she and the coach had decided would be the most effective attack method.

Halfway down the sideline, Sakura and Minako stood with the other cheerleaders who were talking amongst themselves; mostly about which guys on the soccer team they thought were cute. Neither Sakura or Minako really felt comfortable in the conversation, since the majority of what the girls were talking about were how good looking all the new freshmen on the team were. Sakura and Minako had both mentioned that Heero was Sakura's boyfriend, and Duo was Minako's. They had also mentioned that Syaoran, Eriol, and Ranma each had girlfriends of their own. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to make much difference to the girls of the cheerleading squad. The girls were all some of the most popular in the school and so the fact that the guys had girlfriends didn't seem like much of a hindrance to them. Most of the girls didn't seem to be too bent on one single guy, except for one. Both Sakura and Minako were especially worried about the captain of their squad, who was probably the most popular girl in school. She was a junior named Naotake Yumi, and she seemed to have her eyes set on Heero.

During the last few minutes before the start of the game, Heero took the time to glance over at the cheerleaders. He easily spotted Sakura and Minako and noticed that neither one seemed to be socializing much with the other cheerleaders. _"How come you and Aino-san aren't talking much with the rest of the squad?" _Heero asked Sakura.

"_They keep talking about you, Syaoran, Duo, Eriol, and Ranma. We feel really uncomfortable around them when they are talking about you guys cause they don't seem to care that you are going out with our friends."_

"_Don't worry, Sakura-san. We won't be snared so easily."_ Heero could feel Sakura relax slightly because of his consolation. _"By the way, you look pretty good in that cheerleading outfit."_

Sakura started to blush at the other end of the field from Heero's telepathic comment. The cheerleading outfits were white with a dark blue lettering a red trim. They were composed of a very short mini-skirt and a sleeveless shirt with a low cut V-neck collar. Sakura's uniform seemed to be custom designed just for her. It hugged her body in all the right places, accentuating her slim waist and athletic form. The top stopped just at the top of her skirt and therefore when Sakura raised her arms up in the air the top raised just high enough to allow a glimpse of her perfectly flat stomach and creamy skin. The skirt showed off her beautifully toned legs and of course her enchanting emerald eyes and picture perfect smile completed the package. _"You know, you don't look half bad yourself, Heero-kun,"_ thought Sakura with a giggle. She was rewarded by a quick expression of surprise on Heero's face, followed by a grin.

Heero, like all the other guys on the team, was wearing the dark blue away uniform. Made of a shiny polyester material, the sunlight and the light breeze caused a striking rippling effect that made Heero look like he was at a photo shoot. The shirt of the uniform was loose, but the layer of sweat Heero had accumulated during warm-ups made the shirt cling to his body just enough that it allowed his muscles to be easily distinguished.

When the whistle sounded, marking the beginning of the game, Sakura lined up next to Minako as the cheerleaders set up to begin their cheering routine. Similar to Sakura, Minako looked stunning in her cheerleading uniform. Minako filled out her uniform a little more than Sakura, showing a bit more cleavage and a little more skin overall. Her long legs looked perfect coming out from underneath her short mini-skirt, and as always she had a bright smile on her face that was accentuated by her free flowing blonde hair. _"Good luck, Heero-kun,"_ send Sakura to Heero right before the game began.

"_Thank you, Sakura-san,"_ answered Heero who tilted his head slightly towards Sakura and winked. The move caused Sakura to blush slightly, but she soon recovered when the captain of the squad announced that they were to begin their routine.

When the soccer game began, it was obvious why the coach was so worried about the offensive power of the opposing team. They played with only three players dedicated to offense, but had five players roaming the entire field. Only two were responsible for only defense. The three offensive players were all extremely talented. Once they had control of the ball, they passed with extreme precision and played as if they had been playing together for quite a number of years, each being able to predict where the others would be on the field at all times. Heero, Duo, Syaoran, Ranma, and Eriol were able to keep the midfielders of the opposing team in check easily enough, but the three attackers were still threatening despite the fact that they were facing superior numbers of defenders. The attackers were even making Tohru, who despite any personality flaws was still a very talented soccer player, look like a chump on the field. On their first possession, the home team easily maneuvered their way to allow a great shot at the goal for their star forward. Luckily, the goalie of Heero's team wasn't totally without skill and managed to make a great diving save. After gaining control of the ball, Tanaka, the goalie, punted the ball up to Eriol.

Eriol easily got control of the ball and started dribbling up field until two defenders stared to close in on him. With nowhere else to go, he passed the ball forward to Duo who quickly sent the ball towards Ranma who had shifted to the center of the field. Ranma got control of the ball and started straight at the goal. "Watch your back Saotome," yelled Duo who noticed one of the defenders who had been chasing Eriol starting to creep up on the unsuspecting martial artist. After hearing the word of warning, Ranma looked quickly over his shoulder, spotting the incoming opponent, and made a quick decision to pass towards the far sideline where Syaoran was trailing the play. Because Ranma's pass was a little rushed, it wasn't quite as on target as he planned. It took a bit more effort, but Syaoran was able to gain control of the pass. Unfortunately, the extra time required by Syaoran to control the ball allowed the defenders to converge on his position, forcing him to pass the ball to Heero in the center of the field sooner than he would have liked. When Heero received the ball from Syaoran he was a little far from the goal to take a good clean shot. He looked to the sides to find his teammates, but found that each one was closely guarded by a defender, making sure he had no clear passing lane. With a pair of defenders in front and no other option available to him, Heero took the shot from where he was standing. It was still a precise and powerful kick, but since the distance to the goal was so great, the goalie had plenty of time to get in the ball's path.

The rest of the half continued in much the same way as the first few possessions. The offense of the home team was so overpowering of the defense of the visiting team that they managed to come close to scoring on almost every play, and even managed to get the ball into the net on two occasions. On the other side of the field, Heero and the others were having a great deal of difficulty getting around the defense for a clear shot. Normally that wouldn't have been that much of a problem since they did manage to get off a number of well placed shots; however the goalie of the home team was performing up to his reputation and made quite a few spectacular diving saves. Only on one single play did Heero and Syaoran manage to catch the defense off guard and Syaoran was able to get one shot past the goalie by using perfect teamwork and timing.

The second half proceeded similar to the first, but not quite the same. This time around, Tohru and the rest of the defenders had figured out the basic play of the three key forwards, plus Ranma and Eriol came back a little farther to help contain the talented offense. Therefore, the visiting team managed to keep the home team from getting as many clean shots at the goal and ended up shutting them out for the entire second half. With Ami's help, Heero, Syaoran, and Duo had managed to find the few weaknesses the defensive players possessed. Because of this, the three managed a number of clean shots at the goal. Unfortunately only a pair of those clean shots, one by Duo and the other by Heero, made it past the skilled goalkeeper, but that was all it took to gain the lead in the game.

Author's Notes:

Well this section didn't help the plot much, but I wanted to make them play at least one soccer game in my story and I chose to put it here. Besides, I got to make my original character look like a chump again. If you can't tell, I don't like the character I created so I'm going to make him a dupe in almost every chapter he happens to be in.


	20. Sakura's Adventures on the Soccer Field ...

Tokyo, Japan

When the referee blew the whistle signaling the end of the game, the entire visiting team bench and cheerleaders, plus the few fans who traveled the distance to the away game, all jumped to their feet and cheered at the victory. The second they had the chance, Sakura, Minako, Ukyo, Ami, and Tomoyo all came rushing out onto the field to their boyfriends.

"That was a great shot earlier Duo," said Minako with a smile as she ran up to her boyfriend. Once the cheerleader reached her destination, she jumped up and gave Duo a tight hug around the neck and a quick peck on the lips.

"Do I get this treatment every time I score a goal?" teased Duo who was greatly enjoying having his beautiful cheerleader girlfriend hanging tightly onto him. He was rewarded with an elbow to the stomach and another, slightly longer, kiss on the lips.

"You played great," said Ami, a little more calmly than her fellow Senshi as she walked up to the future Li Clan leader.

"Thanks, Ami-san," answered Syaoran. "We couldn't have done it without your advice." Ami blushed a pale pink color at Syaoran's compliment before he pulled her into a light embrace. Unlike Duo and Minako, Ami and Syaoran had never kissed before, and therefore were content to just hug lightly.

"Good game, Eriol-kun, Ranchan" greeted Ukyo as she and Tomoyo walked up to Eriol and Ranma. Each girl gave a light hug and a quick kiss to their respective boyfriends as a congratulations for a job well done.

"Heeeeero-kun!" yelled Sakura as she ran across the field to Heero. As soon as she was close enough she jumped right into Heero arms and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"_Did you enjoy the game?"_ Heero asked Sakura telepathically since he couldn't talk well with Sakura so tightly wrapped around his neck.

"Hai! You guys were awesome!" Sakura continued to hang onto Heero until the others came over and almost forcibly separated the two.

"You're going to have to let go of him, Sakura-san," said Eriol in his usual calm voice. "The coach wants to talk to all of us." Sakura reluctantly let go of Heero's neck and allowed him to go with the rest of his team to hear the coaches announcement.

While Heero and the rest were walking back toward the sideline to talk to the coach, all the magic users suddenly felt a strong presence. When Heero, Syaoran, and Eriol all stopped walking towards the sideline, Duo and Ranma also stopped and looked back at their teammates and asked what was wrong. Before they had a chance to answer, all the girls came running up to where they were standing. "Did you feel it too?" asked Sakura as she came to a stop next to Heero, Syaoran, and Eriol. They each nodded their head confirming that they also felt the magical presence.

"Sakura, why don't you use the Sleep Card?" suggested Syaoran. "There are too many people around to just fight the card openly."

"Right." The group maneuvered to make a small circle around the Card Mistress to allow her to call the Star Wand without being seen. "Key that Hides the Power of the Stars. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Sakura Command You Under Contract. Release!" Once her wand was released, she pulled out the Sleep Card. "Please put everyone to sleep to keep them from getting hurt. Sleep!" When the Sleep Card released, it flew around the field, instantly causing all the spectators and players to drop to the ground unconscious. The Sleep Card then returned to its Mistress and reverted back to card form just before a flash of light lit up the entire area from the sky down to the ground. The light was so bright that all ten teens had to cover their eyes to keep from being blinded. When the light subsided, they all felt a little strange. They couldn't find anything physically wrong with themselves, but each one had an odd tingling sensation all over their body.

"What happened?" asked Minako to nobody in particular.

"I'm really not sure," answered Syaoran. "It doesn't seem like whatever that was did anything."

While the whole group was trying to figure out what happened to them, they didn't notice a large figure slowly floating down to the ground at center field. It was Heero who first noticed the menace staring at the group of mages and martial artists. "Hey guys. Look."

Everyone's head turned when they heard Heero speak and caught sight of the Clow Card. As soon as he saw it, Syaoran released his sword from its pendant form. Unfortunately, once the sword was released, Syaoran immediately dropped it to the ground. "What the hell?" Syaoran swore as he tried to pick his sword up off the ground. For some reason, the thing seemed to weigh a ton and he could barely budge it from its position lying on the ground.

"What's wrong, Syaoran-kun?" asked Ami.

"My sword feels like it weighs a ton. I can't even lift it off the ground."

Duo walked over to where Syaoran was standing and tried to lift his sword off the ground. "He's right," he said as he used all his strength to try to get Syaoran's sword off the ground. "What's going on here!?"

"Hey!" came a whine from Tomoyo. The others all looked towards her to see Tomoyo trying with all her might to pull her camera out of her bag that was lying on the ground at her feet. "I can't pick up my camera! How can I videotape the Clow Card if I can't pick up my camera!?"

"It seems that this card made everything extra heavy," offered Ukyo, who herself couldn't even pick up the small spatulas she was carrying with her.

"Or it made us all extra weak," added Eriol.

"But I don't understand," said Sakura. "I can still hold my wand perfectly fine." Everyone else looked over to Sakura to see her holding her Star Wand with no apparent problems.

"Perhaps since it was a Clow Card that caused the problem, it can't effect the Wand of Capture," said Eriol. "Yuy, try releasing your sword. It is also a Wand of Capture so it might not be effected either."

Heero nodded at Eriol and then withdrew his pendant. "Key that Hides the Power of Space. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Heero Command You Under Contract. Release!" Similar to Sakura, Heero had no troubles holding his sword after it was released. "I guess you're right, Hiiragizawa. It doesn't seem to effect this." Heero thought to himself for a second more before turning to Duo. "Duo. Hit me. Now."

"What!?" exclaimed Duo. "Are you crazy?"

"I want to find out if the Clow Card made our things heavy or us weak," answered Heero. "This is the fastest way. Now hurry up."

"Alright," sighed Duo. "You asked for it. Here goes." Duo then wound up and punched Heero in the face with all his strength. However, despite the fact that Duo hit Heero as hard as he could, Heero's head didn't move even the slightest bit. "What the?"

"I believe the Clow Card's magic made us weak," stated Heero. "I couldn't even feel that."

"Oh no. Not again," moaned Ranma. Everyone turned to look at him when they heard his complaint. When Ranma noticed the eight pairs of eyes looking in his direction (Ukyo wasn't looking at Ranma cause she knew what he was talking about already) he started to explain himself. "Some time ago, my pop's martial arts master hit me on a particular pressure point that made me weaker than a little baby. I did manage to find the counter point and got back to normal eventually after I defeated the old leech."

"We'll have to hear the story later," interrupted Ukyo. "The enemy's coming. Scatter!"

The others all looked up and saw the huge figure charging at the group. Each one jumped out in a different direction to get out of the way of the freight train type attack. After missing with its first attack, the Clow Card righted itself and got ready to make another run. It surveyed the scene and apparently decided that Tomoyo was the best target and began charging at the beautiful fashion designer. Ranma saw Tomoyo in trouble and ran in to protect her. Unfortunately, to save Tomoyo from getting hit, Ranma had to step directly in the path of the charging Clow Card and was struck in the stomach by a powerful punch that sent him flying a number of yards downfield.

"Ranma!" screamed Tomoyo when she saw her boyfriend flying through the air. She quickly ran over to where he had fallen and was relieved to find that he wasn't injured as badly as it seemed, although he was unconscious from the power of the blow.

"Surround the enemy in flames! Firey!" chanted Sakura as she released the Firey Card. The Firey Card released from its confines and flew forward, attacking the unknown Clow Card with a frenzy of flames. "Got it!" cheered Sakura happily when she saw the Clow Card disappear in the sea of fire. Her feeling of triumph quickly disappeared when she saw the Clow Card walk out from the flames, completely unscathed. "Uh oh," gasped Sakura when she saw her attack didn't work. "Let's try something else then. Douse the Clow Card in water! Watery!" When Watery released, it attacked very similar to Firey, completely covering the Clow Card in a pool of water attacks. However, the Watery attack was still just as ineffective as the Firey attack, and the new Clow Card continued on without any damage.

When they saw Sakura's attacks failing to work, Ami and Minako pulled out their transformation wands and changed into Senshi form.

"Mercury Crystal Power, Make-Up!"

"Venus Crystal Power, Make-Up!"

Once in their Senshi Forms, the two gorgeous girls attacked simultaneously with their most powerful attacks.

"Mercury Aqua Mirage!"

"Venus Love and Beauty Shock!"

The combined Senshi attacks flew straight at the Clow Card and impacted with full force. The attacks created a bright flash of light when they struck their target, but despite all the power from the two simultaneous attacks, the Clow Card still was unfazed.

"Key that Holds the Power of Darkness. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Eriol Command You Under Contract. Release!" When Eriol's Sun Staff appeared in his hand, he unleashed a number of attacks at once. One attack was a lightning bolt, another was a fire attack, and the third was a wind attack. All three hit the Clow Card at one instant, but despite all of Eriol's magic power, the Clow Card looked unharmed by the attack. "I don't think elemental magic attacks will work on this," he said in a voice that was still calm despite the terrible looking situation they were all in.

"But if magic doesn't work how can we beat it?" asked Ukyo who had managed to throw one single spatula at the Clow Card although it just bounced harmlessly off of its giant mass. "None of us have any physical strength because of the Clow Card's power."

"Drain!" yelled Heero as he released the Drain Card. Heero's sword started to glow a dim green color as the Drain Card lent its power to Heero. Heero rushed in and attacked the Clow Card with his magically enhanced sword, easily making contact with the large, slow moving target. Regrettably though, because of Heero's lack of physical strength due to the Clow Card's powers combined with its resistance to magic, the Clow Card simply stood there and took the blows without receiving any type of damage. As soon as it saw an opening, the powerful Clow Card struck back at Heero and hit him straight into Duo, knocking both of them to the ground.

"We're in serious trouble," commented Syaoran who was trying as hard as he could to think of a strategy to defeat the enemy. "It seems it is immune to more than just elemental magic.

"I think I can beat it," said Ranma weakly as he hobbled over to where Syaoran was standing with the help of Tomoyo.

"How do you plan to do that?" asked Eriol with interest.

"You plan to use the Hiryü Shöten Ha right?" asked Ukyo.

Ranma nodded an affirmative. "But I need some magic help to do it. I'm in pretty bad shape after that blow earlier and can't move as fast as I probably will need to. Plus I need the opponent to have a fiery battle aura and the Clow Card seems to have no battle aura that can be used against it. If you guys can use one of your magic spells to give me a little more speed and another to make that Clow Card hot in some way, then I think I can defeat it."

"I can give you the speed you need, but I don't think Firey has enough power left to do the other part of what you need," said Sakura.

"I can't do it either without the use of my sword," added Syaoran

"I can do it," said Heero as he was getting up from where he had been knocked down by the Clow card. He looked towards Minako and Ami and said, "If you can keep the Clow Card busy for a minute, I can do what Saotome needs."

Ami and Minako both nodded and continued to attack the Clow Card with their Senshi attacks, even though the attacks weren't really doing anything to damage it.

In the meantime, Heero pulled out one of his unchanged Clow Cards. "Card Created by Clow. Discard Your Old Form and be Reborn, Under the Name Heero; Your New Master." The card Heero had pulled out started to glow and then flashed a bright white before turning back to normal and floated down to Heero's hand. The card Heero had chosen to change was the Magma. In its new form, the Magma Card now had the same white and red back and boarders as the other new Heero Cards. The new picture was what looked like a large mound of bright orange molten lava with a set of thick arms and black eyes. The card also had the same name and Heero's signature at the bottom. With his new Heero Card in hand, Heero looked towards Sakura and Ranma and indicated he was ready to proceed with his part of the plan.

Sakura nodded back to Heero, then looked to Ranma and pulled out the Dash Card. "Give Ranma all the speed he needs! Dash!" The Dash Card released from its card form and lent its speed to Ranma, who tested out his new abilities for a quick minute and found that he was quite satisfied with the results.

Ranma then nodded to Heero indicating he was ready and then walked to the new Clow Card, ready to pick a fight. "Keep the new Clow Card hot! Magma!" chanted Heero as he released the Magma Card and watched it fly over to the enemy and create a ring of fire just around the outside of the Clow Card. The powerful Clow Card didn't have a chance to get rid of the fire created by the Magma Card as Ranma shot it with a small Möko Takabisha to get its attention. As the now pissed off Clow Card attacked, Ranma made sure to move in the perfect circle required for the Hiryü Shöten Ha. As soon as he reached the very center of the circle he created, Ranma let loose the final blow, and knocked the new Clow Card to the ground, unconscious.

"I Sakura, Mistress of the Cards Command You. Return to Your True Form. Clow Card!" As Sakura finished her capture spell, a number of ribbons of light appeared around the fallen Clow Card. It then changed back into card form and, surprisingly, it floated over to where Ranma was standing.

"Hmm?" questioned Ranma when the card flew into his hand. "Why did it fly to me?"

"It probably thought you deserved it since you are the one who beat it," answered Syaoran as he bent down and picked up his sword. "It looks like the effects of the card wore off."

As the others gathered around Ranma to see the new card, which had the same picture as the Little Card and was called the Weak Card, Sakura walked over to where Heero was standing. _"Are you okay, Heero-kun?" _asked Sakura mentally so that the others wouldn't hear. She knew Heero didn't like to show weakness in front of others.

"_I'm feeling a little tired again,"_ answered Heero.

"_That's understandable," _responded Sakura. _"The Magma was made from the power of two of the elemental Clow Cards, so it probably takes a lot of magical energy to change it. Will you be okay though?"_

"_I think I can make it back, but do you think you can handle driving my car for me just in case?"_

"_Really!? Wow!"_ exclaimed Sakura. _"Your car is so neat; I bet it is really fun to drive."_

Heero couldn't help but laugh at Sakura's excitement, and in response, Sakura gave Heero a tight hug. Sakura then used the Sleep Card to wake everyone back up again and after taking care of a few last things, the gang went back home.

Author's Notes:

Okay, okay. I know I have been saying that you should be careful of who you think will end up with who in this story. The truth is that the couples that I kind of made in the first chapter were who I was planning to have get together all along. I just wanted to keep you interested and see if anyone spotted some type of nuance that made it seem like someone would end up with someone else. This becomes extra apparent in the next chapter which will have no Action/Adventure type stuff in it. It is merely a romantic chapter for all the couples.


	21. Sakura's Fantastic Dance Part I

Chapter 8: Sakura's Fantastic Dance

Tokyo, Japan

"I'm worried about Tomoyo-san you guys," said Ukyo as she looked towards Tomoyo's closed bedroom door from where she was sitting with the rest of her roommates.

"She has been working awfully hard in there these past few days," agreed Minako. The four girls all looked to the door and thought back to the day after the school's first soccer game.

Flashback to Saturday; Five Days Earlier

"Happy Birthday, Ami-san," said Syaoran calmly as the couple sat alone in one of the nicer restaurants in Tokyo. The entire gang had had a small party earlier in the day. They had originally wanted to all take Ami out to dinner for her birthday, but Syaoran had asked if they could do the group party earlier in the day, because he had something special planned for that night. At first the others had been a little dejected at not being able to spend the time with their roommate and friend, but they all understood why Syaoran wanted to be alone with her.

"Thank you, Syaoran-kun," responded Ami as she slowly reached forward to grasp the beautiful green felt box Syaoran was holding out to her. She slowly opened it, and audibly gasped when she caught sight of the contents. "I-It's beautiful," she stuttered as she carefully pulled out the necklace from inside the box. The necklace was a very thin sparkling silver chain with a gorgeous shining diamond set in the center. The diamond had a very faint sky blue tint to it, giving it a beautiful ice effect which only magnified its radiance. "I-I-I don't think I can accept this," Ami said as she continued to stare at the masterpiece of jewelry. "It's too much."

Syaoran chuckled at his beautiful girlfriend and walked around the table and kneeled next to Ami, gently taking her hand in his own. "Let me show you something," he said tenderly as he wrapped his own hand around Ami's and slowly closed it around the diamond.

Ami, who had let her eyes close when Syaoran closed her hand around the necklace, suddenly snapped them open again. "Magic?" she asked.

Syaoran grinned. "Just a little. You'll see." He then opened his hand from around Ami's, gently motioning for her to do the same. When Ami opened her hand she looked back down at the diamond and was amazed to see it glowing, ever so slightly, the same pale ice blue color as the diamond itself. Ami could just barely distinguish a small symbol that seemed to have appeared in blue in the center of the diamond. After taking a closer look, Ami gasped when she realized that it was her Senshi symbol in the center of the diamond. "It is activated by your magical aura," explained Syaoran. "As long as you are wearing it, the small Mercury symbol will always be there."

Ami didn't know what to say. It was the most beautiful and thoughtful gift she had ever received in her entire life. Ami just closed both her hands around her personalized diamond, closed her eyes, and held it close to her heart. She could feel the slight lingering of Syaoran's magic aura on the diamond, and felt it very reassuring to know that whenever she wore the necklace she would always be able to feel Syaoran nearby. Ami opened her eyes and stood up, bringing Syaoran up with her. She then pulled Syaoran into a close embrace and gently whispered in his ear, "Thank you, Syaoran-kun. I love it." Ami then lightly released from the embrace and tilted her head up. She slowly lifted her head closer to his, until her own soft, pale pink lips lightly brushed against his. When their lips touched, a spark of magic was sent through both of them as their magical auras mingled together. The couple deepened their kiss until they were holding each other tightly and the outside world had all but disappeared.

When Syaoran and Ami had arrived back at the dorms, all eight of the others were waiting inside the girls' suite. They could all tell that something had happened between Ami and Syaoran, as the couple walked into room seemingly on cloud nine, without a single problem in the world. "How was your date Ami-chan?" chided Minako when Ami and Syaoran came into the room.

Ami blushed a little as she thought back to the kiss she and Syaoran had shared at dinner. "It was very nice," she finally said in a very soft voice. Everyone else giggled very softly, causing Ami's blush to redden even more.

"Anyway," interrupted Minako. "We just wanted to tell you that an announcement was made saying that next Saturday there is going to be a freshmen dance. It is semi-formal and supposedly it is for freshmen only, but in recent years a number of upper-classmen always crash the dance."

"Will you be my date for the dance next week?" asked Syaoran in as sweet a voice as he could manage.

"Hai!" said Ami with a bright smile. She then jumped up and kissed in on the lips, forgetting for a second that everyone else was there and looking at them. When she realized what she did, Ami started to blush furiously as the other four girls giggled and came up to give her a big group hug.

End Flashback

"You are sure Tomoyo-san wants to make all five of our dresses?" asked Ami.

"Hai. I know she is working real hard, but I'm sure she is loving every minute of it," said Sakura.

When all the girls had announced that they were all going to the dance, Tomoyo had quickly said that she was going to design each and every one of their dresses. The other girls had been skeptical at first, but Sakura quickly assured them that when it came to formal dresses and such, Tomoyo was one of the best fashion designers there was. The girls had all offered to help, but Tomoyo had insisted that she wanted to make them by herself and surprise them all when they were finished. The only things Tomoyo wanted the girls for was to get their measurements to make sure the dresses would fit perfectly. After she had done that, Tomoyo had gone into her room and locked the door and made sure that none of the other girls could get in and sneak a peak at her new masterpieces.

Author's Notes:

Well this beginning part sets the scene for the rest of the Chapter. In case anyone was wondering, I used the correct birthdays for the Sailor Moon and Card Captor Sakura characters, although their ages might not be how they are supposed to be based on the show. In my story though, Eriol is the oldest, than Duo, Ranma, Syaoran, Tomoyo, Ami, Minako, Ukyo, Heero and Sakura is the youngest. By this time, Eriol through Ami are all now 18 and Minako, Ukyo, Heero, and Sakura are still 17.


	22. Sakura's Fantastic Dance Part II

Tokyo, Japan

The morning of the big dance eventually arrived and Sakura, Ukyo, Minako, and Ami were all up extra early in anticipation. They were all looking forward to the dance, but at the moment they were also all anxiously waiting to see Tomoyo's dresses. The night before she had come out of her room and told them all that their dresses would be ready in the morning and that they should be up early to see them and try them on and allow Tomoyo to make any last minute adjustments. She had also gone over to the guys' suite to tell them that under no circumstances were they allowed to go to the girls' suite and see the girls' dresses until that night.

The girls all jumped to their feet when Tomoyo's door opened and the lovely fashion designer walked out of her room. She was wearing her own dress already, plus she had two dresses draped over each arm. "Wow, Tomoyo-chan," gasped Sakura when she saw her friend. "You look so beautiful!"

"Just wait until you guys see your own dresses," Tomoyo said with a bright smile. Tomoyo then proceeded to hand out the four dresses she was holding to the four girls who were anxiously awaiting to see which one of the works of art was for them. Tomoyo handed a sparkling gold colored dress to Minako and a dark blue one to Ukyo. She then picked up one of the dresses from her other arm and handed it to Ami. This one was a glittering light blue color. The final dress, which was for Sakura, was a very pale pink color. The one she was wearing herself was bright red.

Down the hall, the guys' suite was strangely empty. All the guys had gone to the nearby gym to play some basketball to keep themselves from thinking about what their dates dresses were going to look like. Tomoyo had told them the night before not to even think about going to the girls' suite until it was time for them to leave. This only made them more curious as to what the girls were going to look like and it was starting to drive them insane just sitting in their room doing nothing. They were hoping to find five other guys at the gym they could play against, but it turned out that the gym was completely empty so they had to play a game amongst themselves. They ended up playing a half court game of two on three, with Syaoran and Heero against Duo, Ranma, and Eriol. The game was pretty evenly matched, so the five played for a good while without even thinking about trying to figure out what the girls' dresses were going to look like.

By the time the guys got back to their room, all they had time to do was to clean up and change into their suits before they had to meet the girls. "Hey guys. Can one of you help me with this thing?" Ranma asked sheepishly as he held out his tie.

Eriol laughed lightly to himself at Ranma's struggles before walking over and helping his new friend and roommate with his tie. Each guy was wearing a suit and tie that they either already owned or just recently purchased. Eriol was dressed in a dark blue suit with a white shirt underneath. The classic style jacket gave Eriol an even more sophisticated look than he normally possessed. His tie was a dark purple color that matched his hair and he made sure his entire outfit was in perfect position. Ranma had on a brand new charcoal gray, almost black, suit with a red shirt. Tomoyo had gone with him to buy the suit, so of course it had to look perfect. The shirt was just dark enough so that it wouldn't look tacky, yet bright enough so that it would be impossible to mistaken it for any other color. A newly tied, thanks to Eriol, tie that was the same color as the jacket, finished off the look. Duo had decided he didn't want to follow the crowd, so instead of a regular jacket and tie, he had opted for a full blown tuxedo. His tux had a jet black jacket and also a black shirt and tie. The vest he chose had a gold trim, so when worn with the jacket, the gold showed just enough to catch one's eye. Heero and Syaoran already each had suits of their own, although neither had had any reason to wear them till now. By a very strange coincidence, both guys had almost identical suits. They both had black jackets, ties, and slacks that were of the exact same style. The only difference was their shirts. Both the shirts were made of a material that darkened from certain angles and looked more colorful from another. Syaoran's shirt was a very dark green, his favorite color, while Heero's was a very dark red color.

When the time came, all five guys walked the short distance to the girls' suite. After knocking on the door, they heard Tomoyo's voice from inside telling them the door was open. After shrugging to each other, the guys opened the door and proceeded to go inside. When the guys got inside, they quickly saw why Tomoyo had told them to come in, instead of opening the door. Standing in a row in their new dresses were Ukyo, Minako, Tomoyo, and Ami. The guys could only gasp at the sight in front of them. Tomoyo had really outdone herself this time and had designed some of the most beautiful dresses ever seen.

Ukyo was wearing a stunning dark blue dress that form fit to her body just perfectly. The fabric was a shiny material that when hit indirectly by light, caused the dress to look like it was glowing. The top of the dress was just low enough to show Ukyo's slender neck, but not so low that it showed any cleavage. The back of the dress was much lower cut than the front. It was open down to the small of her back and showed a large amount of Ukyo's smooth skin. It was held up by very thin spaghetti straps that crossed behind her back and over her bare skin. The dress went down almost to the floor. It was tight fitting down the top half of her legs and ever so slightly loosened as it got towards the bottom. There was a long slit along the left side that went up to about halfway between her knee and her waist. She had a matching pair of heels that crossed over the top of her foot, leaving her toes and ankle uncovered as well as a pair of matching long gloves.

Minako had on a gorgeous sparkling gold dress. The material made the dress look like it was made almost entirely of sequins, causing it to light up whenever a ray of light was anywhere nearby. Her dress had a very low cut V-neck in front, showing a lot of Minako's soft perfect skin. The straps on Minako's dress were considerably thicker than Ukyo's and met in another V-shape at the small of Minako's back. Her dress wasn't floor length, instead stopping just short of the top of her knees. The top and bottom of the dress hugged Minako's curvaceous form, accentuating every aspect of her beauty. A pair of open toe heels added to the supermodel effect. Minako had kept her hair down, letting the long blonde stands flow freely down one shoulder and creating a perfect contrast to her bright blue eyes. The outfit was completed with a pair of elbow length gold gloves.

Tomoyo's dress was a bright red color. She had purposely picked out the red shirt for Ranma so that it would match the red dress she had been designing for herself. Tomoyo's dress wasn't made of any type of shiny material like the others, since it was bright red she figured it would be overkill to have it sparkle as well. Tomoyo's dress was held up by a strap that went around her neck and flowed out into the front. The front of the dress was based around the center and hugged the curves of Tomoyo's body and went under her arms, meeting in the back about halfway up. This allowed the pale skin of Tomoyo's entire shoulders and upper back to be shown. Like Minako, Tomoyo also had a short dress that stopped just above her knees, and had on a pair of red close toed heels. Her long hair was up, and curled slightly, to allow her back and shoulders to remain uncovered.

Ami was wearing a sparkling ice blue dress. The mixture between blue and white sparkles gave her an almost angelic effect. Like all the others, the top was perfectly fitted to her body. Ami really had to commend Tomoyo on her excellence when it came to making the dresses. Not only were all the dresses exceptionally beautiful, they all fit almost perfectly before she had even done the alterations. It had only taken Tomoyo a few minutes on each dress to get them to fit perfectly on the bodies of her new roommates. The front of Ami's dress was of a similar style to Ukyo's, with the curved low cut neckline. It was a little lower than Ukyo's dress, which made Ami blush a little at first since it showed the very top of her breasts and she wasn't used to showing much skin. Her dress also had the same very thin spaghetti straps that Ukyo's had, but since hers were white in color, they were almost invisible against her silky skin. The straps didn't cross in the back, but instead met the back of the dress just below her shoulder blades. The bottom of her dress wasn't as tight fitting as the top. Instead it started to loosen just below her waist and flowed out until it just barely grazed the floor when she was wearing her heels. Tomoyo had chosen the color of Ami's dress to purposely match the necklace Syaoran had given for her for her birthday. The faint glow of the light blue diamond hanging from Ami's neck was the perfect accessory to the sparkling blue of the dress.

All the guys greatly complimented Tomoyo on the dresses and expressed their admiration of how beautiful their dates looked, except for Heero. Heero was confused more than anything. "Umm," he started. "Where's Sakura?" The girls all got a very surprised look on their faces and started to point down the line towards Ami's end, when they noticed that Sakura wasn't there. It was right when Heero saw the girls surprised looks that he noticed the very bottom of a dress behind the line of girls. _"I know you are back there, Sakura-san,"_ said Heero sweetly through his mind.

Everyone heard the audible "Eep!" that came out of Sakura's mouth from the surprise of Heero saying that he had seen her. When the girls heard the noise behind them, they all turned around to see Sakura, slightly crouching, hiding behind them to keep from being seen.

"Sakura-chan!" all the girls scolded when they saw her.

Sakura started to blush furiously when the other girls saw her. "I am embarrassed!" she finally said when all the girl continued to look at her hiding form.

All the girls sighed and then proceeded to pick up Sakura and pull her in front of them so Heero could see her dress. Sakura continued to blush as she stood with her hands clasped together in front of her and her head looking down towards the ground. Sakura's dress was one of the best dresses Tomoyo had ever designed. The reason Sakura was so embarrassed was because the dress was completely strapless, but was made of a slightly stronger material to make sure it stayed up. The front was cut to just above Sakura's breast line, and it continued down her sides until it met the back of the dress which was just above Sakura's waist. The bottom of the dress was much like Ami's, in that it flowed down elegantly down Sakura's legs and reached just above the floor when Sakura was wearing her heels. While the top was made of the slightly stiff material to make sure it stayed on, the bottom was made of a thinner material, allowing it to sway just slightly when Sakura walked. The entire dress was a very pale pink color, that sparkled just enough in the light to allow the color to show. It looked striking against her creamy skin and her bright emerald eyes.

"So how does she look, Yuy-kun?" Tomoyo asked.

In Heero's mind, for a brief moment, everything around Sakura seemed to disappear. Her sheer beauty had captivated him and he barely heard Tomoyo's question. _"She looks like a goddess,"_ Heero thought to himself. He had completely forgotten that Sakura could hear what he thought, but when he saw her blush deepen when she looked up at him, the fact quickly reasserted itself and Heero's face turned just the slightest shade of red. Heero eventually recovered from his spaced out state and answered Tomoyo. "She looks beautiful."

"Thank you, Heero-kun," responded Sakura with a smile.

"We also have something for each of you," stated Duo as he pulled a single rose from behind his back and gave it to Minako. The rose was a beautiful yellow color that gradually turned orange and then red as it got closer to the top. Eriol pulled out a very rare purple rose, which he gave to Ukyo, and Ranma pulled out a bright red rose for Tomoyo. Syaoran also had a rose, which he gave to Ami, that was white at the base and gradually turned a pretty sky blue color as it got to the tip.

Heero was the only guy without a rose for his date. Instead he pulled out a small black velvet box and handed it to Sakura. "I was hoping you would wear this tonight," he said as sweetly as he could.

Sakura opened the box to find a beautiful diamond necklace, not unlike the one Syaoran had given to Ami a week ago. The small diamond was perfectly clear and was mounted on a thin silver chain. Sakura took it out of the box and clasped her hand around the striking piece of jewelry before opening her hand and looking back at it. She was surprised to see that it had changed color slightly, and now held a very faint pink hue to it. Once again she clasped it in her hand and held it close to her heart. "Thank you, Heero-kun. It's beautiful." Heero took the necklace out of her hand and very gently placed it on her neck. Once the necklace was attached, Sakura turned around and pulled Heero into a very tight embrace.

After what seemed like an eternity to the other couples, who had long ago finished saying their greetings and compliments, Heero and Sakura finally let go of their embrace. They didn't move too much however, until Duo interrupted their moment. "Alright you two lovebirds," he chided. "We've got to go, otherwise we'll be late." The interruption was obviously not welcome by Heero, who gave Duo another one of his death states to indicate his annoyance at the Gundam pilot's bad timing.

As the five couples all left arm in arm, Sakura sent to Heero telepathically, _"I love the necklace. It's absolutely beautiful."_

"_It's only beautiful because you are wearing it."_ Sakura blushed a little before resting her head on Heero's shoulder as the group of ten made their way to the dance.

Author's Notes:

I know this chapter is a little bit of a change of pace in writing style from all my previous chapters, but I wanted to try it out. Please read and review and tell me if you think this chapter is interesting, well written, boring, or just plain terrible. Any type of review, whether it be good or bad is welcome.


	23. Sakura's Fantastic Dance Part III

Tokyo, Japan

"Welcome everybody," announced the DJ from inside the large dance hall inside one of Tokyo's nicest hotels. "I hope you all are having a great time!" The students all responded to this with a mixture of clapping and yelling out back towards the stage. "I just wanted to announce that we will be having a contest of who is the best couple here tonight. The winning couple will have one entire dance just to themselves, so everyone please vote at the front table for who you think is the best couple!" His announcement done, the DJ then put on the first slow jam track of the night to allow the various couples to dance close with one another.

"May I have the honor of this dance my lady?" asked Eriol to Ukyo in as chivalrous of a voice as he could manage while keeping his trademark smirk on his face.

Ukyo couldn't help but laugh at Eriol's over the top theatrics. "Of course kind sir," she responded after gaining control of her laughter. Eriol took Ukyo's hand in his own, and gave it a gentle kiss before leading his girlfriend onto the dance floor.

They were soon followed by Syaoran and Ami, and Duo and Minako. As Sakura and Heero also started toward the dance floor, Sakura turned around to talk to her best friend. "Aren't you two going to the dance floor, Tomoyo-chan?"

"Nope. We are going to go vote for the cutest couple," she said with a grin. "I bet you can guess who we are going to vote for." Tomoyo gave Sakura a little nudge with her elbow, making Sakura blush at the insinuation that she and Heero were the best couple at the dance. Tomoyo laughed again at her cute blushing friend before making her way to the voting table with Ranma following closely behind.

"Shall we?" Heero asked as he held out his hand for Sakura. She just smiled and nodded to Heero as she carefully led her to an open spot on the dance floor. As soon as they found an acceptable open spot on the dance floor, Sakura wrapped her arms securely around Heero's neck, while he placed his hands gently on her waist. The couple held each other close, with Sakura resting her head in between Heero's neck and shoulder and swayed slowly from side to side to the rhythm of the music.

"_By the way, Heero-kun," _said Sakura telepathically so that she wouldn't have to move from her comfortable spot in Heero's arms. _"How did you make the diamond turn pink when I touched it?"_

The corner of Heero's mouth turned up into a small grin even though Sakura couldn't see it from her position of resting on his shoulder. _"It is actually a rare diamond that can only be found in one country in the world. It changes to a different color based on a person's body heat and personal chemicals. There are only about a hundred such diamonds in the world, since they have only been found so far in the Sanc Kingdom. Many people have wanted to build mines in the kingdom to find more of these diamonds, but Princess Relena has denied all requests for more mines, insisting she wanted to keep the country's beautiful landscape in tact."_

Sakura loosened their embrace slightly and fingered the diamond around her neck. _"Only one hundred in the entire world?"_ she thought to herself in amazement.

"Let me show you what it can do," whispered Heero as he took the diamond between his own fingers. He closed his fingers around the pale pink colored stone, and when he released them after a moment, the diamond had turned back to its original colorless state. "While your presence makes the diamond turn that cute pinkish color, I apparently cause it to become colorless. If someone else touches it, it will probably turn another color. If you want to see what other colors it can turn, you can always ask Daidouji-san; I'm sure she'd be happy to help."

Sakura just smiled at Heero and took her diamond back into her own hand, changing it back to the light pink color it was before. That done, she cuddled her way back under Heero's chin and the couple started to dance, holding each other close, once again.

A few feet away from Heero and Sakura, Duo and Minako were slowing rocking back and forth to the tune of the music together. While Heero and Sakura were dancing so close together it looked as if they were connected at the hip, Duo and Minako had a little space between the two of their bodies. The reason for this was because while they were dancing, they were also engaged in a very long, very passionate kiss. A number of students continuously glanced in their direction, some marveling at their ability to go for so long without air, some wishing they could be the one kissing one of the two attractive students, and some feeling that such a public display of affection was quite inappropriate. Neither had ever had problems being the center of attention so neither Minako nor Duo cared even the slightest bit about the other students around them, and continued doing whatever happened to please them. When the first slow song of the night came to an end, so did Duo and Minako's kiss.

"You know," said Duo as he pulled away from Minako just far enough so he could get a good look at her beautiful dress and gorgeous body. "You really do look amazing tonight."

While her fellow Senshi, Ami, and her new roommate, Sakura, would both have been blushing furiously from such a comment, Minako relished in the attention. Giving Duo a bright smile, she pulled back a little farther and then did a quick twirl to give Duo a perfect view of her entire body. "Well you are looking pretty good yourself," said Minako as she lightly fingered the lapel of Duo's tuxedo. "I think you might be the only one here in a tux."

Duo just grinned at her and said, "I didn't want to follow the crowd."

Minako just grinned back at the joking Gundam pilot and as the next slow song started, wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him another long kiss on the lips. For the majority of the rest of the song, the couple mutually decided to just dance and save the make-out session for a little later. As they held each other close and danced the song away, Minako would continuously play with Duo's long braid. She had always thought guys looked hot with long hair, as long as it was properly maintained and styled, and she felt Duo's long braided pony-tail was perfect for him. For Duo, Minako's looks really didn't matter. Not that he was saying she wasn't absolutely gorgeous, especially in that stunning gold dress, but he had been most attracted to her personality. He knew for a fact that there were very few people with a similar personality to his own, and was excited to find that Minako was just like he was. They both loved being the center of attention, and always tried making anything serious into something fun. He always felt completely at ease with her, and had no problems just being himself when in her presence.

Another couple, on the other end of the dance floor, was almost the complete opposite of Duo and Minako. If there was anyone who had known both Eriol and Ukyo before they had gotten together, they would have never thought in a million years that they would be right for each other. And yet, despite the fact that their personalities were almost polar opposites of each other, they ended up making quite a nice couple. Granted, they made a nice couple because they both had changed slightly when they had gotten together, but for the most part they were still their same old selves. They did have one personality trait in common with each other however, and that was that they each had someone in their lives they just loved to torment. In Eriol's case it was Syaoran. The descendant of Clow Reed was just so easy to torture, and his reactions to just the most rudimentary of pranks amused the sorcerer reincarnate to no end. As for Ukyo, she had long ago found out how much fun it could be to torment Ranma. Ever since they had reasoned that they weren't really meant to be together as husband and wife, they had come together to become even better of friends. What Ukyo had quickly learned, was that messing around with Ranma's curse could be the perfect medicine to any type of depressed feeling she could be having. To just see his face when she made him change into a girl at the exact wrong time was priceless for the okinomiyaki chef. Ever since they had gotten together, neither Ukyo or Eriol had really felt the need to play jokes on Ranma and Syaoran, but they always made sure to do something to them every once in a while, just to keep their tormenting skills in tip top shape.

As for how the couple was when they were around each other, they got along great despite their different lifestyles. Eriol found it particularly relieving to be with a girl that wasn't raised to be the extra proper, extra polite type. The only girls that he was ever around in England were always overly dainty and eventually it had started to get on his nerves. That was one of the main reasons Eriol had wanted to go to Japan for University, and was quite satisfied that he had found Ukyo so quickly. Ukyo, on the other hand, liked Eriol because he was so polite and chivalrous. She had never had a guy treat her like a real woman and it really made her feel good inside to know that Eriol saw her just as a pretty girl and not a tomboy. All the guys she had known before Eriol had always treated her as 'one of the boys' and never as a girl. She had never said anything, but she had always wished in her heart for some prince on a white horse to come and sweep her off her feet, just like in those sappy romance novels.

Back in present times, Ukyo and Eriol were dancing together happily, although not as gracefully as some of the other couples. This was mostly because of Ukyo, since she was not used to wearing heels or such elegant clothing. Eriol was trying his best to help Ukyo learn to move fluidly in her high heels and tight fitting dress and was slowly making progress. He didn't mind even a little that she was having so many troubles. In fact, he was enjoying himself more, trying to teach her how to get used to her clothing than he ever did with girls who had already perfected the gracefulness department. Whenever Ukyo started to trip over her own feet, Eriol would always catch her, and every time Eriol would catch her, Ukyo would reward him with a quick kiss on the lips. By the time the night was only a quarter over, Eriol caught himself unconsciously using his magic every once in a while to make Ukyo start to slip, just so he could catch her and get his prize. Although she couldn't sense the magic Eriol was using, the fact that he was causing her to slip didn't go unnoticed by Ukyo, but instead of getting angry like some girls would, she just played along and always gave Eriol his prize for catching her. The couple had a great time just fooling around and dancing together, which caused the night to pass very quickly for them both.

Ranma and Tomoyo was another couple some thought seemed quite random. The two did have a little more in common than Ukyo and Eriol, but not by much. Tomoyo was always very much a girl among girls, and Ranma was always trying to be a man among men, except of course when he was turned into a girl. At first, Ranma's curse had been what brought the two together. For the first time in his life, Ranma wasn't angry that he had fallen into the Nyannichuan, but instead he was almost glad. Never in his life had he met anyone who didn't think he was a freak for turning into a girl, until he met Tomoyo. She was definitely very cute, but the main thing that attracted him to her was that she liked him in both boy and girl form. From Tomoyo's point of view, she was always looking for a guy who was different than the pack. She didn't want just another guy that you could find an almost exact replica of just by looking down the street, so when she met Ranma and found out that he turned into a girl when splashed with water; she knew right away that he would be anything but normal. She found out later that there were more original things about Ranma other than his curse, but at first, it was the curse that had her hooked. It was also a plus that he turned into a girl because it presented quite a fashion challenge for her. Everyone who knew Tomoyo knew that she loved to design fashion. When she saw that Ranma changed from one sex to the other, she decided to make it her mission to design some type of clothing for him that will look good on both his male form and his female form. As of yet, she was still unsuccessful, but she kept trying anyway.

While they got together by unusual means, they stayed together for reasons that were much more normal by most people's standards. As it turned out, the two really did enjoy spending time together. They never felt uncomfortable around one another and always had something to talk about. Ranma accepted, and actually found most amusing, Tomoyo's obsession with capturing Sakura's cutest moments on tape as well as her passion about fashion designing. Even at that moment, Ranma was assisting Tomoyo in capturing Heero and Sakura dancing on tape, and even though he wasn't holding his girlfriend like the rest of his roommates were doing, he was still enjoying ever minute of the dance.

There did come a point, eventually, when Tomoyo decided that it was more important to dance with her boyfriend than to tape her best friend. When that time came, the couple held each other very closely, with Tomoyo resting her head against Ranma's shoulder. Every once in a while they would separate to give them enough room to either give or receive a short, but passionate kiss. The first time Ranma and Tomoyo had kissed was actually by accident. They had been sneaking around, trying to tape Sakura, when Tomoyo tripped over something on the street. Ranma, who had been standing next to her, noticed her falling, and quickly tried to catch her. The end result was that Ranma ended up between Tomoyo and the pavement, and Tomoyo had fallen far and fast enough so that their lips were touching while lying on the ground. Surprised at first, Tomoyo had quickly lifter her head so that their lips were no longer touching, but soon after, she found herself lowering her head once again and giving her boyfriend a long, tender kiss. The two held their kiss for a good while, until someone had tapped Tomoyo on the shoulder, causing her to break from the lip lock and look up. It turned out to be Sakura who had tapped Tomoyo on the shoulder, since she had noticed her best friend following her with her camera and had seen her almost trip and fall. Sakura had been relieved to see that Ranma had kept Tomoyo from getting hurt and then had been both surprised and slightly embarrassed when she saw the two of them start to kiss while lying on the ground in the middle of the sidewalk. She had quickly walked up and tapped Tomoyo on the shoulder because other people on the street had started staring and Sakura wasn't sure if Tomoyo and Ranma had really wanted to make a scene.

Duo and Minako were not the only couple that seemed to be a perfect match. Duo and Minako were much more outgoing, making the couple a lot more noticeable, but it was still clear that Ami and Syaoran also made quite a nice couple. They were both quiet most of the time, but still sociable when they were among friends. Both were also above average in smarts, and despite the fact that they often joked with others, they were still frequently thought to be a little too serious. Their timid natures had at first caused their relationship to move forward a little slower than couples such as Duo and Minako, and Ranma and Tomoyo, but as time went by; their comfort around each other soon overcame their natural shyness.

Many people back in high school had thought that Syaoran and Sakura should have gotten together long ago, but it had never actually happened. Everyone knew that they both liked each other ever since elementary school and numerous attempts had been made to get them to admit their feelings towards one another. However, both Syaoran and Sakura had both known somewhere deep in their hearts that they were just not meant to be. They loved being around each other and had been great friends all through high school, but they always felt it wasn't right for them to take their relationship any farther than friendship.

"That dress really does look beautiful on you Ami-san," complimented Syaoran as he held his girlfriend close on the dance floor.

Ami blushed a faint shade of red, like she always did whenever Syaoran gave her a compliment, before giving him a gentle hug. "Thank you, Syaoran-kun. That is a very handsome suit as well." As she complimented Syaoran's suit, she also thought back to when all five guys had walked into their suite to pick the girls up for the dance. What came to mind made her giggle ever so slightly, but just loud enough so that Syaoran took notice and gave her a questioning look. "I was just remembering what you guys looked like when you walked into our room to pick us up. I hadn't really thought about it earlier, but you and Heero-kun are dressed almost the same again, aren't you?"

Syaoran's eyes kind of rolled back in his head slightly at the mention of his similar style of dress as Heero. A very large number of jokes, mostly by Eriol and Duo, had been constantly made about Heero and Syaoran's apparent tendency to wear very similar outfits at the same time as one another. Even without dressing the same, Syaoran and Heero were already very much alike, but when they dressed the same as well, it just made them a prime target for ridicule.

Ami saw Syaoran's reaction to her comment and tried, but failed, to contain a giggle. However, to make sure that Syaoran wouldn't get mad at her for laughing at him, she pulled him into a very quick hug and kiss. "I think its cute when the two of you dress alike. I'm pretty sure Sakura-chan agrees with me." Syaoran just sighed, accepting the inevitable and very gently pulled Ami back in close and began dancing again, with her still giggling into his shoulder.

At the end of the song, Ami felt a tap on her shoulder from behind. "We are going to go for a short walk since it is really hot in here," said Sakura from her position in Heero's arms. "You two want to join us?"

Ami looked up at Syaoran who cocked his head indicating it was her decision. "Sure. We'd love to."

Sakura smiled happily as she and Heero led the other couple out the back door and into the small park attached to the hotel. A few minutes of walking down the path, Heero looked back over his shoulder to Ami. "That dress looks beautiful on you, Ami-san."

Ami blushed a little at Heero's compliment, although her face didn't turn near as red as when Syaoran would give compliments to her. "Thank you, Heero-kun."

"You're looking quite lovely as well, Sakura," added Syaoran with a smile. Since Sakura had been such good friends with Syaoran for so long, she no longer blushed at his compliments, but instead gave him a bright smile and a friendly hug of thanks.

"So have you two been having fun?" asked Sakura to Ami and Syaoran as she grasped back onto Heero's arm.

"Hai!" exclaimed Ami happily. "I don't think I've ever had so much fun at a dance before." Ami had gone to all the dances during high school with the rest of her friends, and had even had a date for one or two of them, but had always felt uncomfortable and out of place. This time she was with Syaoran, and she felt like there was nowhere that she belonged more. "So who do you think will be voted as the best couple at the dance?"

Sakura put her hand on her chin and scrunched her brow, obviously deep in thought. Heero couldn't help but smile at the cute face Sakura was making while thinking so hard. "Hmm, I think that Minako-san and Duo-kun are the more noticeable of the couples at the dance, so I think they will win."

"Maybe," commented Ami. "But I think Tomoyo-san and Ranma-kun will win. They stand out just enough to get people's attention, but also look so cute together that I think they will get more votes."

"I don't think so," responded Syaoran as kindly as he could. "If I know Tomoyo-san, she will do everything in her power to make sure that Sakura would win before she would." Syaoran's comment made Sakura blush as she thought about her best friend's obsession with her cuteness.

"What about you, Heero-kun?" asked Ami. "Who do you think you will vote for?"

"I'd have to agree with Sakura-san," said Heero. "Duo and Aino-san both like the spotlight so much that they should win."

Sakura smiled up at Heero out of happiness that he agreed with her about her assessment of the best couples contest. "Well, we have been gone for a while. You guys ready to go back?" Sakura was answered with a nod from the other three present and then the two couples headed back toward the dance.

As soon as Sakura and Heero walked through the door, they heard a voice they had hoped not to hear for a long time. "Hey babe. Looking good. How about you ditch that loser Yuy and come get freaky with me on the dance floor."

"What are you doing here, Katsaguri?" said Heero as calmly as he could manage, even though he was steaming mad that Tohru had shown up.

Tohru grinned at Heero, right before he pushed his shoulder, forcing him to take a small step back to keep himself from falling backwards. In that split second where Heero had to remove his arm from around Sakura's waist, Tohru stepped in and brought Sakura right into his own body. "I'm giving the babe a chance to be with a real man."

As Heero saw the most important girl he had ever met trying to push the much larger guy off of her with all her might, all of his previous restraint completely disappeared. In a slightly violent move, Heero shot is arm out and grasped Tohru right around his throat. Displaying an enormous amount of strength that it didn't look like he possessed, Heero picked the much larger man up by his neck and lifted him a good few inches up off the floor. "I'll tell you for the last time," Heero growled in a voice that would probably turn a pure flame into ice. "Leave us alone."

It wasn't until Sakura finished recovering from Tohru's tight grasp he had on her, that she noticed the dangerous stranglehold Heero had on the upper-classman. "Heero-kun. Please don't hurt him," she said quietly into Heero ear. _"I don't like him any more than you do,"_ she added telepathically, _"but I don't want to see you get in trouble for hurting him."_ "I'm fine really. Please put him down, Heero-kun."

Hearing Sakura's sweet voice brought Heero out of his state of pure rage and he slowly dropped Tohru back to the ground. After releasing his hand from Tohru's neck he turned back to Sakura with a look of shame in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Sakura-san," he said quietly as he pulled her into a light embrace. "You're right. It's just that, I saw you in trouble and I just snapped."

"It's okay," soothed Sakura as she tightened the embrace with Heero. "Let's go over there," she said when she spotted where Ukyo, Eriol, Duo, Minako, Ranma, and Tomoyo were standing and talking together. Heero just nodded and they, along with Ami and Syaoran, headed over to join the rest of their friends, leaving a still gasping Tohru on his knees on the ground.

The next couple hours of the dance went smoothly and without incident, allowing Sakura and Heero to almost forget that Tohru had even been there at all. There were a couple occasions when Tomoyo had been a little too aggressive with her videotaping, embarrassing the couple, but nothing serious. Basically, the couple spent the entire time either dancing or sitting down talking until they heard the DJ begin to speak over the speakers. "Alright everyone! I hope you are all having a blast of a time!" The DJ's statement was answered with a frenzy of shouts and claps indicating they were all indeed enjoying themselves. "Well, now is the time you have all been waiting for. We have tallied up all your votes and have determined who the best couple at the dance is!" This announcement was again followed by cheers and clapping by the students as they eagerly awaited the results. "I have been the DJ for this dance for the past five years, but never have I had a competition as close as this. We had three couples, all neck in neck to win the title of best couple, and the race was so close that instead of having a dance only for the winning couple, I have decided to have all three dance together." This time there was surprise on the faces of the freshmen present. They hadn't expected a tie, and were now quite anxious to find out who not only the winner was, but the two runners up as well. "In third place, only two votes shy of the second place couple, is Li Syaoran and Mizuno Ami!"

A spotlight appeared from the ceiling and was directed straight on the couple, as others backed out of the way to make sure they weren't in the scene where they didn't belong. Those closest to the couple could easily see the blush starting to creep across their faces as they shyly began walking toward the open center of the dance floor. "Are you as surprised as I am?" Syaoran quietly whispered in Ami's ear. Ami was so nervous at being the center of attention that she could only nod slowly to answer Syaoran.

"Now for the second place couple." The DJ paused for a second to get everyone's attention before he continued. "A mere three votes shy of winning, Aino Minako and Duo Maxwell!" Duo and Minako's reaction to the news was almost the exact opposite from Syaoran and Ami. As soon as they heard their names called, they turned to each other for a very long and passionate kiss while the rest of the crowd clapped and hooted at the sight. When Duo and Minako finally broke their kiss and proceeded to the center the DJ spoke up again. "Now, for the moment you have all been waiting for. Your best couple of the night… Kinomoto Sakura and Heero Yuy!"

As soon as the couple was announced a very loud scream of excitement was heard throughout the room. To everyone's surprise, the outburst hadn't come from the winning girl, but instead from a long, dark haired girl standing right next to her with a video camera in hand. Sakura blushed a very deep shade of red, more from the outburst made by her best friend than from the news of being the best couple with Heero. Heero, calm and relaxed like always, gently offered his arm to Sakura and led her to the center of the dance floor where their friends were waiting.

"This will be the second to the last dance of the evening, but for now, I want everyone to please give all your attention to your three best couples of the night!" His final speech made, the DJ turned off all the lights except the lights caused by the rotating disco ball at the top of the room and the three spotlights on each of the couples in the center of the floor. He then put on a beautiful slow song and watched as the three couples came together, each holding tightly to one another and dancing with the slow and steady beat of the song.

"_You surprised we won?"_ Sakura asked Heero as the couple danced slow and content.

"_Hai. But I can't complain, for it means I get one more dance to spend holding you."_

Sakura blushed again at Heero's answer to her question, but luckily since her face was resting on Heero's shoulder and against his chin, it went unnoticed by everyone. The end of the song was a very smooth transition into the last song of the night. So smooth in fact, that the three best couples never even separated and just continued to dance as the last song began, with the other couples in the room all finding their places around them. Heero noticed that when the last song of the night started, Ukyo and Eriol found a place on the dance floor very near where Syaoran and Ami were dancing, while Ranma and Tomoyo had found a place right near Sakura and himself. Tomoyo even gave him a wink when she walked past and Heero could see that even she wanted to spend the time dancing with Ranma and not looking for an opportunity to videotape him and Sakura.

When there was only about a minute left in the last song of the night, Heero pulled back slightly from Sakura. When Sakura felt her boyfriend pull away a little, she looked up to him with a puzzled expression on her face. Heero couldn't help but smile as he thought about how cute she looked at that moment. _"I just wanted to tell you that I had a great time tonight," _he began. _"And there is something I've wanted to do for a long time, but wanted to wait for the perfect moment to do it."_ Sakura still had the puzzled look on her face, obviously not understanding what Heero meant. In response, Heero just smiled and placed a hand gently against her cheek. He then leaned in and closed his eyes as he made contact with Sakura's soft and gentle lips. Taken by surprise at first, Sakura didn't know how to respond. But she quickly overcame her shock and wrapped her hands around Heero's neck and kissed him back. As soon as he felt Sakura kissing him back, Heero pulled the girl in close to him and wrapped his arms around her back and just enjoyed the feeling of Sakura's lips being pressed against his. Kissing Heero was sending a most enjoyable warm feeling coursing through Sakura's body and she stood up on her tip toes to deepen the passionate kiss as much as she possibly could. The final song of the night ended at the exact same moment as Heero and Sakura's first kiss. They broke apart, but still kept their faces mere millimeters apart, completely spaced out, looking deep into each others eyes.

"Tonight was one of the best nights of my life," Sakura whispered Heero as she stared into his deep blue eyes. Heero and Sakura's lips met once again, and the two finished off the best night of their lives locked in each others arms.

Author's Notes:

The main purpose of this chapter is two-fold. First of all I wanted to see if I could successfully write a chapter that was of a different style of writing than my other ones. Or at least I think it is a different style of writing. Maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, the second point of this chapter is to give a little insight into all five couples. The majority of my previous chapters all centered around Heero and Sakura, since they are the main characters, but some of the reviews mentioned that they wanted me to talk about the other couples as well, so that's what this chapter's main purpose is.


	24. Sakura Meets ZERO Part I

Chapter 9: Sakura Meets ZERO

Tokyo, Japan

"Do you know what happened to Yuy and Maxwell?" asked Eriol as he, Ranma and Syaoran walked into the girls' suite.

Minako shrugged before answering Eriol's question. "Duo-kun said he and Yuy-kun had something to do and would be back later tonight. They said for you guys to go to soccer practice without them." The guys all looked strangely at Minako as they wondered what happened to their teammates, but soon just shrugged it off and left for practice.

Uninhabited Forest Somewhere in Japan

"Are you sure it's a good idea to do this?" asked Duo as he and Heero arrived at their destination.

"I just have a feeling that sooner or later the rest will figure out about our Gundams and these modifications will probably come in handy."

"I assume you already have figured out how to fit the extra seat in each of our suits, right?"

Heero just nodded as he stepped out of the truck he had rented with all the parts they would need and looked up at the gigantic figure of Wing ZERO. "Let's get to work." Heero and Duo then proceeded to unpack all the mechanical equipment and parts they had brought with them and started the difficult task of installing a second seat into the already cramped cockpits of Wing ZERO and Deathscythe.

As Heero was coming close to finishing the installation of the auxiliary seat in his Gundam, he got a call on his cell phone from Sakura. "Heero-kun. Where did you and Duo-kun go?" she asked in her sweet and carefree voice.

"We had something to take care of," Heero stated as vaguely as he could but at the same time trying not to make Sakura overly suspicious. "Is something wrong?"

"Nope," she answered, still in the happy voice showing that she didn't think anything suspicious was going on. "I was just wondering what you two were up to. The rest of us are going to the library to do some homework, so if you guys get back and nobody is around, that is probably where we will be."

Heero couldn't help but smile into the phone at Sakura's cute innocence. "Ok, Sakura-san. I'll see you later tonight then."

"Hai! Bye, Heero-kun."

"Bye," Heero answered as he hung up the phone. "You finished yet, Duo?"

"Just have to finish attaching this last bolt," answered Duo as he finished securing the seat in the cockpit of his Gundam. "All finished. Ready to test them?"

"Let's go," Heero stated as he took his place in the pilot seat of Wing ZERO. In a flash, Heero's hand floated over the numerous controls, bringing the giant mobile suit to life. A yellow glow surrounded Heero as the ZERO system started up and from the outside it could be seen that the head of the giant robot raised and the green eyes lit up. As Heero pulled back on the throttle, the large, beautifully white wings of the Gundam raised up and spread out, ready to take flight.

At the same time, Duo was also starting up his Deathscythe. The jet black Gundam's wings unwrapped themselves from around the body of the suit, and like Wing ZERO, the head of Deathscythe raised slightly and the green eyes lit up. "Alright buddy," said Duo to his Gundam. "Let's do it!" At the same moment, both Heero and Duo pushed their machines to full power and they both took off in a flash of light and a gust of wind. The two pilots made sure to go at full speed with as much extreme maneuvering as they could manage to make sure that the auxiliary chairs wouldn't come loose. Satisfied with the results, the two pilots flew back to where they had decided was the best hiding place they could find for their mobile suits and finished cleaning up the site and headed back towards Tokyo.

Tokyo, Japan

"So where have the two of you been hiding yourselves?" joked Minako when she saw Heero and Duo walk into the library where everyone else was studying.

"Very funny, Minako-chan," replied Duo as he walked over and gave his girlfriend a kiss.

Heero followed a couple steps behind Duo and walked to the empty seat next to Sakura, making sure to place a gentle hand on her shoulder before sitting down. "What have you been working on?" Heero asked quietly.

Heero saw Sakura furrow her brow while looking down at her papers before answering. "I'm trying to do the math, but it is so hard! All I can see are numbers floating around inside my head," she whined. Heero very carefully placed his hand on Sakura's face, cupping her cheek in his palm. Sakura closed her eyes and brought her own hand up to cover Heero's, holding it close to her face and relaxing at the comfortable feeling she got from feeling Heero touching her.

"How about you take a break and we go for a short walk," suggested Heero thoughtfully. "It will help clear your head." Sakura looked up at Heero with her green eyes wide and a sweet smile on her face. She nodded as she got up from her seat and asked her friends to watch over her things for a few minutes.

The couple walked hand in hand out the front doors of the library into the cool night air. As soon as she was outside, Sakura immediately wished she was wearing her jacket instead of leaving it back with the rest of her friends. She didn't realize that she was unconsciously moving closer to Heero to try to warm herself up with his body warmth. On the other hand, Heero did take notice of Sakura's unconscious movement and saw that Sakura looked cold when he glanced down at the girl's shivering form. Being the gentleman that he was, Heero took off his jacket and draped it over Sakura's shoulders to keep her warm. "Thanks, Heero-kun," said Sakura sweetly as she pulled Heero's jacket tightly around herself and rested against her boyfriend's side.

The two were walking slowly along a path that made a large loop around the library building, and the scenery surrounding the couple was beautiful. High in the night sky there were a number of stars shining brightly against the cloudless dark blue void. Among the stars was a perfect crescent moon. The sliver was just enough to make the entire area glow very faintly; creating an atmosphere that was a mix of beauty and mystery. The paved path ran through a forest of high trees and colorful flowers. Every now and again, Sakura would stop briefly and bend down to take a closer look at the pretty violet, blue, yellow, and red flowers that were dotted along the side of the path. Every time Sakura would stop to smell the beautiful and fragrant flowers, Heero couldn't help but smile at the cuteness of the girl. After a short while, the couple came to a small open area that had a great view of the twinkling stars up in the night sky.

When Heero saw that nobody else was around, he stopped with Sakura and in a quick, gentle motion, pulled her into a close embrace and captured her soft pink lips with his own. Sakura was initially surprised by Heero's quick action, but was quickly able to regain her wits and return Heero's kiss since she had discovered a while ago that Heero would often kiss her suddenly whenever they happened to enter some type of romantic setting. Heero took a moment to savor the deliciously sweet taste of Sakura's lips and to inhale the faint scent of cherry blossoms that came from her hair. Heero had first noticed the pleasant fragrance when he kissed Sakura at the dance a few weeks ago and at the time he had been curious as to why he had never noticed it before but quickly brushed it aside as unimportant. Sakura too was savoring the embrace. She thought Heero was an excellent kisser. His kisses were always strong and passionate, but they still managed to be gentle at the same time. She also enjoyed running her fingers through Heero's always slightly ruffled, yet strangely soft, brown hair.

The couple continued to kiss each other in the passionate embrace until they heard a loud "Cute!" from behind them. Both of their heads snapped around just in time to see Tomoyo standing next to a bush with her ever present video camera in hand, and with Ranma next to her apparently about to pull her back into their hiding place in the bushes. Knowing she had unconsciously squealed a little too loud and had effectively blown her cover, Tomoyo decided to just say exactly what she was thinking about the couple. "You two looked so perfect kissing under the stars! I got the best shot ever with the two of you holding each other tightly under the night sky in this beautiful forest with the moonlight casting a romantic glow about the whole area. I can't wait to show it to everyone!"

"T-Tomoyo-chan," stuttered Sakura to her best friend. "How long have you been following us?"

"Since you left the library," Tomoyo answered with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye. "I got a whole bunch of cute shots of you on video."

Heero had a slight face of annoyance at the interruption of his time alone with Sakura, but had learned a long time ago about how obsessed Tomoyo was with her best friend and so he didn't take the interruption by the girl to seriously. "I guess we should head back to the library then," said Heero. "I'll help you with that math you are having trouble with."

"Thanks, Heero-kun." Heero and Sakura walked back to the library slowly with Sakura resting her head on Heero's shoulder. Behind them, Tomoyo was also walking arm in arm with her boyfriend, but she made sure to keep her camera up so that she could capture more of Sakura's cute moments with Heero.

Author's Notes:

First of all I want to apologize to the few people who actually read my story for taking so long to get this latest chapter up. It's been a hectic month in school and whatnot for me, so I haven't had much time to write. Plus, I have been getting severe writer's block so it takes me a long time to get things written even when I do have the time. Secondly, I just wanted to say that in regards to the Gundams, I am trying to describe Wing ZERO Custom and Deathscythe-Hell Custom. For those of you who have seen Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz then you know what Gundams I am referring to. If you haven't seen the Gundam Wing Movie/OAVs, but have seen the rest of the series then it might seem like my descriptions are incorrect. But again, I am using the Gundams from Endless Waltz for the basis of my descriptions.


	25. Sakura Meets ZERO Part II

Tokyo, Japan Three Weeks Later

"Return to Your True Form. Clow Card!" shouted Sakura as the large body of water in front of her turned into bright energy before flying toward the Card Mistress in its new Tsunami Clow Card form. "No fair," she whined after returning her wand to its normal form. "I'm all wet."

Tomoyo walked up to the soaked Card Captor with her camera in hand like always. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo soothed while the frowning Sakura was busily trying to dry herself off. "We are at the beach. You were going to get wet sooner or later anyway."

"I know, but I was waiting for Heero-kun to get here before going into the water."

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, with the sun high in the sky and a light cool breeze keeping the air temperature to a comfortable level. The good weather was a rarity for the time of year as winter was quickly approaching. The gang had decided to take the opportunity for one last trip to the beach before it got too cold. At the moment, there were only six of them present. All five girls were there, as well as Ranma.

"I don't know why you are complaining so much, Sakura-san," said a girl's voice from behind Sakura. "All of us got wet, but at least you don't have side effects when you get wet."

When Sakura heard the voice she turned around slowly, a little confused at who was talking to her. "Oh! Ranma-kun," exclaimed Sakura when she saw Ranma's girl form in front of her. "I'm sorry. I totally forgot about what happens to you when you get wet."

"Don't worry, Sakura-san," replied Ranma kindly when he saw that Sakura seemed to be blaming herself for his changing into a girl. "I was expecting to be in my girl form for the majority of the day, considering we are at the beach."

"Thanks, Ranma-kun," said Sakura. She felt a little better after Ranma's comments, but she still felt bad for complaining when she was only wet and he had changed form. "By the way, thank you for the help with the Clow Card."

"Anytime, Sakura-san."

"Your guys' assistance was really helpful too, Minako-san, Ami-chan. Thank you."

"We couldn't just sit by and watch you fight alone," responded Minako who was drenched, but still in her Sailor Venus outfit.

"Minako's right," added Ami who was also equally soaked as Sailor Mercury. "Whenever you have to fight, we'll be right by your side."

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to do much of anything to help," said Ukyo from next to Tomoyo.

"Hey," responded Tomoyo. "It's not your fault you don't have magic. Besides, if it wasn't for you pulling me out of the way of that huge wave, my camera would have been ruined." Ukyo smiled at Tomoyo's kind words. She liked Tomoyo a lot, but still thought her obsession with her video camera was a little strange.

"You two might want to change out of your Senshi costumes soon," said Ranma to Minako and Ami. "The other guys will probably be here pretty soon."

"Good idea." Ami and Minako both concentrated for a brief second before their Sailor Senshi costumes disappeared and they were once again wearing their bathing suits.

"Hey!" exclaimed Sakura after the two girls were back to normal. "How come you aren't wet anymore?"

Ami and Minako looked at each other before Ami answered. "When we change back, we always return to the exact same physical state as we were before we transformed. Since we didn't get wet until we were in Senshi form, we are still dry."

"No fair," whined Sakura as she plopped down in the sand feeling sorry for herself again. Sakura was so busy thinking about how it wasn't fair that Ami and Minako were dry and she was still soaking wet that she almost didn't hear Heero telepathically laughing inside her head. _"Heero-kun?"_ asked Sakura inside her head.

"_Hai."_

"_What are you laughing at?"_

"_You."_

"_Me?"_

"_Hai. You are still worried about being wet. It's cute."_

Sakura blushed from Heero's comment, but luckily for her nobody could see since her face was pointed down at the ground. _"Are you guys on your way here?"_

"_Hai. We left a few minutes ago. Practice ran a little long."_

"_Ok. See you soon then."_ With that last telepathic thought, Sakura got up from where she was sitting in the sand to join in the conversation with the others. Talking with Heero made her happier, just like always. "Ranma-kun," said Sakura. "Why aren't you with the rest of the guys at practice anyway?"

"That's a good question," added Ukyo. "Why aren't you playing soccer with the rest, Ranchan?"

"You guys all saw the game two days ago, right?" All the girls nodded their heads except Tomoyo who already knew why he didn't have to go to practice since she had asked during the ride over. "You remember how we won four to zero? And that I was the one who scored all four goals?" Again, all the girls nodded. "Well, coach gave me a day off from practice because of it."

"That makes sense," said Ami. Since six of them were going to the beach early, but only Tomoyo and Minako had cars, Syaoran had let Ami drive herself and Sakura in his car saying he could catch a ride with Heero.

"Umm, guys," said Ukyo. "Is it just me, or does it seem to be getting dark out?"

The other four girls and Ranma stopped talking when Ukyo spoke up and started looking around. They all noticed Ukyo was correct, and it was quickly getting prematurely dark out. Sakura was the first to think to look toward the sun, and saw that a large black circle was slowly crossing in front of the sun's path. "Look everyone. It's a solar eclipse."

The other five looked up at the sun and everyone, except for Ami, voiced their excitement since solar eclipses were rare and quite neat to look at. Ami, on the other hand was a little skeptical. She knew for a fact that there was not supposed to be a solar eclipse anytime soon. "Something isn't right," she finally said. "This isn't a normal solar eclipse." Everyone turned to Ami for some type of explanation. "First of all, look at the radius of the object blocking the sun. There is almost no curvature, suggesting the object is way too big to be the moon. Second, I know for certain that there isn't supposed to be an eclipse today."

"Then what's going on?" queried Tomoyo.

"I have no idea. This goes against all scientific predictions."

"Could it be magic?" asked Ukyo.

"Like maybe it's another Clow Card," added Ranma.

"I guess it is possible," said Sakura. "But I can't feel any Clow Cards nearby."

"Maybe it is one of our old enemies," suggested Minako to Ami.

"I doubt that," answered Ami. "Luna and Artemis seemed pretty convinced we had finished securing the Moon Kingdom future."

At that moment, the girls saw Heero's Ferrari and Eriol's Jaguar turn the corner and stop next to Tomoyo, Minako, and Syaoran's cars in the parking lot. When they reached the girls, it was obvious they had already noticed something was amiss. "What is up with this funky darkness?" asked Duo as he stood by Minako.

"We've been trying to figure that out," answered Sakura. "Ami-chan says its definitely not a natural solar eclipse, so we think it must be magic."

"That's a pretty good bet," said Eriol. "I can't sense the presence of anything magical, but I have a feeling that someone or something with an enormous amount of power is responsible for this."

"But if we can't sense it, how do we stop it?" asked Sakura. Not even Eriol had an answer for that question, so all ten stood in silence and watched as the sun was slowly covered, until it was completely gone from sight.

Syaoran, like all the others, was watching the planet's source of light slowly fade from view until it looked just like night out. When the sun was gone, Syaoran tilted his head slightly and gazed up at the sky where a number of stars had become visible. Syaoran lost himself deep in thought while gazing at the few small twinkles up in the vast darkness. It took a while, but eventually a single sparkling star caught Syaoran's eye. He watched in fascination as the small source of light suddenly flared slightly, emitting a beautiful silver color around the speck before changing back to normal. The silver flare gave Syaoran an idea though. It had reminded him of what Sakura and Heero would become every time they combined their powers. Syaoran took a moment to think his plan through before voicing it to the others. "I have an idea," he finally said, quickly getting everyone's attention. "It's a long shot, but I think if Yuy and Sakura-san combine their power, they might have enough energy to sense the magic presence. If that is really what it is anyway."

Everyone looked to Heero and Sakura, and Heero and Sakura looked at each other. "I guess we'll give it a try," said Sakura as she nodded her head. Heero nodded as well as he walked behind the Card Mistress and gently wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. Sakura clasped her hands on top of Heero's around her waist and the couple closed their eyes and began concentrating their magical energies. The others all looked on in amazement as both Heero and Sakura's auras manifested themselves. Sakura's aura didn't look very large, but was very rich in color, while Heero's white aura extended out until it was covering both teens. It was clear from looking at the couple that Heero was sharing his power with Sakura, making her magical energy extra strong. In a flash of light that was so bright that everyone had to turn their heads and shield their eyes, Sakura's pink aura, which had been outlined by Heero's white aura, suddenly changed into a bright shimmering silver. The combined silver aura was exceptionally strong around Sakura with only a thin outline around Heero. After a few moments, both Heero and Sakura simultaneously opened their eyes but left their combined aura intact.

"I can feel the presence, and I think it is a Clow Card," said Sakura. This surprised both Syaoran and Eriol, who hadn't expected it to be a Clow Card since they were normally very easy to detect. "But I can't be certain and I can't pinpoint a location. We still don't have enough energy."

When Sakura said she needed more energy, Syaoran, Eriol, Ami, and Minako all looked at each other and nodded. They all walked over to Sakura and Heero and both Ami and Minako placed a hand on each of Heero's shoulders. Syaoran and Eriol followed suit, Syaoran placing a hand on top of Ami's and Eriol placing one on top of Minako's. Sakura looked back and gave a smile to all four of them before closing her eyes again and melting back into Heero's embrace. A second after Sakura closed her eyes, so did Heero, and a moment later the other four magicians did the same. Ranma, Tomoyo, with her camera of course, Ukyo, and Duo all looked on as Ami, Syaoran, Minako, and Eriol's auras all began to reveal themselves. Minako and Eriol's auras were surprisingly similar in color. Minako's aura was a bright yellow and Eriol's was a magnificent gold. While both auras were close to the same color, it was clear that they didn't mingle together at all. They both maintained a distinct separation from each other as they reached out to lend a small amount of power to Sakura.

As Syaoran and Ami began channeling their magical energies, something unexpected happened. Ami's light blue aura and Syaoran's green aura both appeared as they normally did, but instead of keeping a clean separation like Eriol's and Minako's, Ami and Syaoran's auras began to swirl together. The four observers were surprised when this happened, but were even more surprised when in a flash of light; the two colors had been replaced by a single aura. The new combined aura was an enchanting aqua-marine color; a perfect blend of blue and green. The new magical aura was substantially more powerful than the power of the two separated energies. This did not go unnoticed by Heero, who almost momentarily lost his concentration when the flood of energy was suddenly channeled through him. He had been expecting a much larger burst of energy from Ami and Syaoran than from Minako and Eriol, but not to the same extent. He knew Eriol didn't have as much magical power as either Sakura or Syaoran, or even the two Senshi. He did understand magic more thoroughly than anyone else, and that allowed him to lend more power than one would think possible based only on his magic energy level. Heero had also discovered that at least when in regular form, Ami had more magic than Minako. When in Senshi form, their power levels were pretty much the same, but in normal form there was a substantial difference. What Heero didn't know was that Ami appeared to have more power because of the nature of each Senshi. Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Mercury each held the same amount of total magical potential, but Mercury was the only type of power that was controllable. Sailor Mercury's powers can be consciously controlled up to their full potential, but Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and even Sailor Moon were all grounded by emotion. Sailor Moon could reach her full potential from various numbers of different emotions, but Mars, Venus, and Jupiter can only release their full magical potential as pure raw energy and only when certain emotions were in control of their minds. In the case of Mars, Rei would only be able to use her full power when anger and aggression, which were the qualities of Mars, dominated her mental state. Makoto was limited to the power of Sailor Jupiter, so was only able to release her full potential when the need to protect someone or something was foremost in her mind. Sailor Venus was governed by her feelings of love and passion. Therefore, Minako was only able to reach her full potential when it concerned someone she loved or felt extra strong about. Syaoran's case was similar to Eriol's. He didn't have as much magic potential as either Sakura or Heero, but he did have almost as much as each of the Senshi. His extensive training in magical arts did, however, allow him to use his power more efficiently, making it seem like he had more energy than Eriol, Ami, and Minako.

It didn't take long, especially with the extra boost of energy given by Ami and Syaoran's mingling auras, for Sakura to determine where the magical presence was coming from. Once she had figured it out, she stopped channeling all her energy, inducing a chain reaction that sent everyone's aura back to normal. "It's definitely a Clow Card," said Sakura after everyone got relaxed again after the magical stress. "And it is far away, which I guess is why it took so much energy to find it."

"What direction is it?" asked Duo.

Sakura just took her arm and pointed straight up in the air. "It's above us. Really high above us."

"I guess it's up to you and me then," said Heero since only Sakura and himself had the ability to fly. "By the way," Heero added as he turned to face Ami and Syaoran. "Did you two know that your auras combined?"

The surprised looks that appeared on t Ami and Syaoran's faces when Heero told them the news showed they obviously had no idea. "What do you mean by combined?" asked Syaoran. "Like yours and Sakura-san's?"

"Hai!" answered Tomoyo before Heero had a chance. "I got it all on tape."

"Heero-kun, Sakura-chan," said Ami. "You two better go get that Clow Card before people start wondering about why there was an unscheduled eclipse. We'll worry about why my aura combined with Syaoran-kun's."

"You're right, Ami-chan," answered Sakura before turning to face Heero. "Ready?"

"Let's go."

"Key that Hides the Power of the Stars/Space. Show Your True Self to Me. I Sakura/Heero Command You Under Contract. Release!"

"Fly!"

"Wing!"

At the command of their masters, the Fly and Wing Cards released and Sakura and Heero each found themselves with wings on their backs. The couple looked at one another and nodded before both taking flight. Once airborne, Sakura decided to amuse herself by flying in circles around Heero as they ascended through the night sky. Seeing Sakura having so much fun twisting around the sky, Heero decided to play along. The couple participated in a dance of spiraling around one another until Heero swept in and gently grabbed Sakura into a close embrace and captured her lips with his own as they continued to twirl while heading upwards.

After about a half an hour of continuous flying, Heero and Sakura both stopped ascending so they could talk with each other. "We have been flying for half an hour and we still aren't even close enough to feel the Clow Card's presence," said Sakura.

"Should we head back down and think of a new strategy?"

"I don't think we really have much choice."

"I think you're right," agreed Heero.

The couple then resumed their aerial dance as they began the long trip back down to the ground.

"So what happened up there?" asked Duo once Heero and Sakura landed back down on the ground. "You two were gone an awfully long time."

"The Card is too high up," said Sakura. "We couldn't reach it."

"I guess that explains why we can't sense it," commented Eriol.

"Let's head back to the dorms," said Syaoran. "If we can't get up to it, we'll just have to find some way to make it come down to us." Everyone agreed with Syaoran and Eriol and they all got into their cars and went back home.

Author's Notes:

Well, not too much to say about this chapter. It is what it is. Hopefully it was entertaining, but its main purpose was filler between the beginning of the chapter and the main part of the chapter which starts in the next section.


	26. Sakura Meets ZERO Part III

Tokyo, Japan One Week Later

"How is Eriol-kun doing?" asked Ami as she, Minako, Tomoyo, and Sakura walked through the door to the guys' suite.

"He says he'll be fine," answered Ranma. "He says he just used too much magic. Ucchan is with him."

Almost a week had passed since that day at the beach when the sky had all of a sudden grown dark. Apparently the Clow Card's power was great enough to cover the entirety of Japan in darkness. The Japanese government had deemed the unnatural darkness as dangerous and therefore had ordered the majority of businesses and public institutions to close temporarily. Even airports were closed down, since the Clow Card's magic also seemed to dampen the effect of radar, making it extremely dangerous to fly anywhere in Japanese airspace. Eriol had been researching and spell casting almost continuously since that day, refusing to sleep until Ukyo threatened to stay up with him until Eriol went to sleep. She had even stayed in the same bed as him to make sure he didn't get back up to do more research.

"So I guess he hasn't been able to come up with anything," stated Sakura sadly. She was answered by a bunch of heads slowly shaking from side to side.

After sitting in silence, Duo finally decided he'd had enough. "Heero," he stated, making his comrade look up from staring at the top of Sakura's head. Sakura was sitting on Heero's lap with her head against his chest. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

It was very rare that Duo ever talked in a completely serious tone of voice, so Heero knew it must be important. The two went to Heero's room so they could momentarily talk in private. "What did you want to talk to me about, Duo?"

"I think we should tell them about the Gundams," Duo stated matter-of-factly. Heero raised an eyebrow indicating he wanted Duo to explain himself. "You know as well as I do that wherever this Clow Card is, our Gundams will be able to reach it. I know we agreed it was best not to tell our new roommates about the Gundams, but even you yourself came up with the idea of installing the extra seat in each cockpit. If this situation isn't serious enough to tell them about the Gundams, I don't think there will ever be a situation that is."

Heero thought briefly about Duo's statements. In truth, Heero had been debating with himself about that very same issue, but had inwardly hoped Eriol was going to be able to find some type of spell that would solve the problem so he wouldn't have to worry about it. "You're right, Duo. We can't keep hiding forever." Duo nodded and they both stood up and walked back through the door into the common room.

When the two Gundam pilots entered the common room, everyone, including Ukyo and Eriol, who had apparently woken up sometime during Duo and Heero's conversation, turned to face them. "We have a way to get to the Clow Card."

Everyone was surprised at that. "How?" asked Syaoran.

"Come with us and we'll show you," said Duo. "It's a while away, so we have to drive."

Everyone looked to one another before looking back at Duo and Heero. When they saw the seriousness of the two guys they all nodded and stood up. Duo and Heero led them out of the building and to the cars in complete silence. As Heero stepped into the driver's seat of his car, he turned to everyone else and finally broke the silence. "Follow me closely. We are heading to a very remote area. If you get lost, it may be difficult to find your way." The other four who would be driving nodded and then the group got under way, with Heero and Sakura in the lead, followed by Syaoran and Ami, Tomoyo and Ranma, Eriol and Ukyo, and finally, Minako and Duo.

"Umm, Heero-kun?" asked Sakura timidly once they were alone in Heero's car. Heero looked at Sakura and smiled gently to relieve some of her anxiety. He knew he was acting extra serious and he wanted to make sure he wasn't frightening her. Sakura relaxed a little as a result of Heero's smile before continuing. "What's going on exactly?"

Heero's smile faded once he heard Sakura's question. "I'm about to show you an important part of my life that I am in no way proud of."

Sakura was taken aback at Heero's answer. "I don't understand."

"I'm sure you have wondered what happened in my life before moving to the Sanc Kingdom, as well as why I have a number of skills that very few other people posses." Sakura just nodded. She had often wondered what type of life Heero could have led that turned him into the guy he was now. "When we reach our destination, a number of those questions will probably be answered, but even more will probably come up at the same time."

"I still don't understand, Heero-kun," responded Sakura.

"You will," said Heero softly. "Just please don't think less of me when you do."

Sakura still didn't understand what Heero was trying to say, but in her heart, she knew that whatever secrets Heero's past may hold; she still didn't want to loose him.

Uninhabited Forest Somewhere in Japan

"What are we doing way out here?" asked Ami as she got out of Syaoran's car. Heero had parked in a large open area that was surrounded by high trees which were so full at the top that they almost covered the entire area, creating a gigantic dome.

"Wait here," stated Heero. "We'll be back in a minute." Then he and Duo walked into one section of the trees and disappeared.

"Minako-san," said Sakura when Heero and Duo disappeared from sight. "Did Duo-kun tell you anything on the drive over?"

"He was really vague," answered Minako. "He said something about understanding why he and Heero kept it a secret when we see."

At that moment, all eight heard and felt something very large approaching on the ground from the direction where Heero and Duo had disappeared to. Out of habit, Syaoran called his sword and Eriol called his staff when they heard the noises and felt the ground tremble. Ami and Minako both transformed to Senshi mode, and Ranma and Ukyo got into fighting stances in front of Tomoyo for her protection. The only one who didn't look worried was Sakura. Somehow, she knew it was Heero who was approaching and therefore wasn't frightened. The ground continued to shake, until two gigantic machines stepped out from between the trees. They both stopped in front of the group and bent down on one knee. From this position, the group could see that both machines had intense glowing green eyes. Just as soon as they were in position, the light from the eyes suddenly disappeared and the chest plate in each machine opened up and a single person stepped out of each.

"Everyone," said Duo as he jumped the short distance to the ground from Deathscythe's cockpit. "I would like to introduce you to Deathscythe and Wing ZERO." All eight were speechless. Never in their lives had they seen anything even remotely similar to the two daunting machines. Even Tomoyo was so surprised that she completely forgot about her camera, and didn't even think to get the giant mobile suits on video. "I would also like to say that both Heero and myself apologize for not telling you about these earlier," continued Duo when he saw that everyone was frozen with shock. "But I think you guys can understand why we didn't."

"Wh-what are those?" managed to stutter Minako.

"They are called Gundams," answered Duo. "There are a total of seven existing mobile suits, the most advanced of which are the Gundams. These are two of five existing Gundams on the planet. They are the most powerful, most advanced military technology ever created."

"How come you guys have them then?" asked Ami who, along with Eriol and Syaoran, had finally recovered from the shock of seeing the monstrous machines. "Shouldn't they be in the care of some type of military organization?"

Duo sighed before answering. "It is a really long story, but I'll try to summarize it for you. I'm sure you have all noticed that Heero and myself know a few things that aren't common knowledge for the majority of the public. This is because we received special training ever since we were really young. This training was specifically so that we could pilot these Gundams and be perfect soldiers. We were both trained separately and our Gundams were built by different engineers, but the original designs were all done together. Our missions with the Gundams were basically solving problems in areas of the world where war was ruining people's lives. The plan was good originally, but after a time, a group of aristocrats, called the Romefeller Foundation, began to exploit us and the engineers that gave us the Gundams ordered us to stop following the orders of the Foundation and to fight on our own. That is when we moved to the Sanc Kingdom. We all went there to protect Princess Relena. Now we have decided that the Gundams are completely unnecessary in this world, so we keep them here where they will stay out of the hands of those who might wish to cause trouble with them."

By the time Duo had finished his story, everyone had regained their wits about the situation, and both Eriol and Syaoran returned their weapons to their normal form. "I've heard of the Romefeller Foundation," said Syaoran. "They have been trying to get the Li Clan to join them for some time now, but my mother and the elders always refuse the offer. I guess they all knew that it was an evil organization to be associated with. So where are the other suits?"

"The other three Gundams are in the care of each of their pilots," answered Duo. "I believe you three," continued Duo as he looked at Ami, Sakura, and Syaoran, "met Trowa Barton a while ago at the circus. If you remember him, he is the pilot of the Gundam Heavy-Arms. We also told you about Quatre Raberba-Winner and Chang Wu-Fei. Quatre is the pilot of the Gundam Sandrock, and Wu-Fei pilots the Nataku Gundam. While Trowa's Gundam moves all over the world with him and the circus, Quatre and his Gundam are at the headquarters of the Winner Foundation and Wu-Fei is probably somewhere in China. The other two existing mobile suits are the Tallgeese and the Taurus. Both these suits are in the Sanc Kingdom. The Tallgeese is piloted by Princess Relena's older brother, Milliardo Peacecraft. Not many people know he's alive and he goes by the name Zechs Merquise when in public. The Taurus is piloted by Milliardo's wife, Lucrezia Noin. Noin is also the official Captain of the Sanc Kingdom's Royal Guard."

"You said that these would be able to get to the Clow Card," said Eriol. "How?"

"Among other things, these suits are capable of planetary takeoff as well as orbital reentry."

"But even if you do get up there, how can you capture the Clow Card if you have to pilot the two suits?"

"That is where Heero comes in," stated Duo. "A while back, Heero had us install auxiliary chairs behind the pilot seats inside the cockpits. It will be a little cramped, but each of us can take a single passenger into space to find and capture the Clow Card."

"I call one of the seats!" shouted Minako, surprising everyone.

"What do you mean, Minako-chan?" asked Duo.

"I'm saying that I want to be the one who gets to ride with you and go into space," Minako answered. Everyone was so surprised that she processed the news of Duo and Heero's Gundams so quickly and was so quick to state that she wanted to see space, that nobody really knew what to say.

"I guess Sakura-san has to be the other one," said Eriol in a composed tone of voice. "Since only Yuy and Sakura-san have the ability to capture the Clow Cards, and Yuy has to pilot one of those things, Sakura is going to have to handle the capturing."

At the mention of Sakura's name, everyone turned to look at the auburn haired girl, and were startled to see that she didn't seem to be paying attention to their conversation at all. Instead she was just staring blankly at Heero. In much the same way, Heero didn't look like he noticed that anyone besides Sakura was present either. It looked almost as if the couple were talking to one another without saying a single word.

"_Why didn't you tell me, Heero-kun?"_

"_I wasn't sure what your reaction would be and I didn't want to risk loosing you."_

"_Do you really not trust me that much?"_

"_I trust you with all my heart. I just don't trust myself or my past."_

"_I wouldn't have abandoned you just because of things you had to do in the past."_

"_I'm sorry, Sakura-san. I should have had more faith in you."_

"_So when you said earlier that you weren't proud of your past, what types of things did you have to do?"_

"_I have been the cause of a number of tragedies across the planet. We were sent to clean up military messes around the world, but the result of our actions caused a number of people to loose their lives. I just don't want to be responsible for terminating the lives of any more people than I already have."_

"_There wasn't some other way to fix the situations that wouldn't have resulted in the loss of life?"_

"_Ever since I was young, I was trained to be an emotionless perfect soldier. I was taught everything from battle tactics to exercises to increase my physical abilities. I was also put through psychological training to make my mind devoid of any type of human kindness and caring about the loss of life of others."_

"_I know you seem serious at times, but I have never seen you come to a point where you would be willing to kill people."_

"_I am a different person now than I used to be. The training had a flaw somewhere in its design. They were unable to completely rid my heart of the feelings of kindness. They only managed to bottle them up. However, while I was fighting out on the battlefield, the training did suffice. I killed numerous soldiers and terrorists without a second thought. It wasn't until I made a grave mistake that my feelings began to show themselves."_

"_What went wrong?"_

"_I screwed up a mission. I miscalculated my attack and was responsible for the loss of innocent bystanders. Normally this probably wouldn't have affected me in the way that it did, but before the mission I met this little girl and her puppy. She was happy and care-free despite the fact that she lived in a war ridden nation. Later that night, when I undertook my mission, I made a miscalculation with the explosives and was responsible for killing the little girl, her puppy, and all the others living in the civilian apartment building. I was retrained after that incident, and continued to act in the way I was supposed to. It wasn't until I met you that my psychological training has finally failed in its entirety. You reminded me of the little girl who's life I unintentionally stole, and I promised myself that I would do whatever was necessary to protect you."_

"_I can't even begin to imagine what type's of hardships you must have gone through in your life, Heero-kun. But I promise you, I won't leave anytime soon." _With that final thought, Sakura walked over to where Heero was standing, unaware that all the others were watching the two of them, and pulled him into a tight embrace and a long passionate kiss. When the couple ended their kiss, Sakura finally took notice of the fact that everyone else's eyes were glued onto her. This made her blush and she buried her head in Heero's chest to escape the embarrassment. It wasn't that the others had never seen them kiss before, but Sakura and Heero also seemed to make it a point not to kiss very often in public where other could see them. The fact that Sakura had just walked up and given a long kiss to Heero without even thinking of hiding it, made her embarrassed to no end.

Everyone laughed a little at the sight of the uncomfortable Sakura hiding in Heero's arms, thankful that the situation had lightened a little. Although the mood was nowhere as serious as it had been previously, the group did decide that it was time to get down to business. "So Sakura-san," started Eriol. "As we were saying earlier, we think it is best if you and Aino-san go with Yuy and Maxwell to go capture the Card."

"How?" asked Sakura who hadn't been paying attention to the previous conversation and therefore didn't know about the auxiliary seats in the cockpits.

Eriol sighed when he realized that Sakura hadn't been listening at all earlier. "Each of those Gundam things have a second seat in the cockpit so that Yuy and Maxwell can each take a single extra passenger. Aino-san already said that she wants to go with Maxwell, and since Yuy needs to pilot his suit, you have to go with him to do the actual capture." Sakura nodded in understanding now that she was fully briefed on the entire situation.

"I have a question," said Ami. "If the Clow Card is as high as I think it is, there won't be any oxygen in the air up there. Do your Gundams have some type of oxygen storage and breathing system?"

"They do," said Heero. "But when we are in space we always wear spacesuits in the cockpit just in case something goes wrong. Duo and I each have our own suits, but if Aino-san and Sakura-san are coming along, then we'll need to make some new ones."

"I don't think we have time to make them the traditional way," said Syaoran. "It's probably best if you just make a couple with the Create Card, Sakura."

"Here's a suit to base the design on," said Duo as he jumped up to Deathscythe's cockpit and pulled out his suit.

"I want to help!" exclaimed Tomoyo. "Can I design your suits, Sakura-chan? Please?" Sakura had already figured that Tomoyo would say something like that and just smiled and nodded to her best friend. Tomoyo's eyes lit up when Sakura said ok to her request. "Thank you, Sakura-chan!"

"Key that Hides the Power of the Stars. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Sakura Command You Under Contract. Release!" When Sakura's wand released from its pendant form, she also pulled out a single Sakura Card. "Create!" When the Create Card released, Sakura ordered it to follow the instructions of Tomoyo for creating a spacesuit. The Card waited momentarily for Tomoyo to do some quick, but very skilled, sketches of what she wanted the two spacesuits to look like.

When Tomoyo was finally finished giving the Create Card all of her very detailed instructions, two new spacesuits appeared in front of the group and the Create Card returned to card form. Both suits were almost identical to the one Duo had pulled out of his Gundam in basic design, but Tomoyo had added a few personal touches to each. Minako's suit was yellow instead of the black of Duo's suit. It was trimmed in a pretty orange color and had a few small red roses adorning the helmet and along one of the arms. Sakura's suit was pink, of course. Tomoyo had always thought pink looked best on Sakura so she had made her suit pink. It turned out that Heero's suit was white, so the pink made a good companion to it. Sakura's suit was pretty much the same as Minako's but instead of the orange trim, hers was white and instead of the roses on her suit, Sakura had cherry blossoms. Overall, Tomoyo was impressed with the skill of the Create Card, and all the others were impressed that Tomoyo had been able to think of the design of the suits in such detail in such a short amount of time.

After Sakura and Minako managed to get into their new spacesuits, Heero jumped up into the cockpit of Wing ZERO. He was about to release the cable to allow Sakura an easy trip up to the cockpit when he noticed her following his example and jumping from the foot to the leg of the mobile suit, before doing a flip and landing smoothly right in front of the startled Gundam pilot. Sakura noticed Heero's amazement and giggled before grabbing him around the neck for a good luck hug before finding her way to the auxiliary chair inside Wing ZERO.

Similar to Sakura, Minako followed Duo's lead and jumped into the cockpit of Deathscythe. Duo wasn't nearly as surprised that Minako made the jump to the cockpit as Heero had been that Sakura made it, since Minako was still in Senshi form. He knew from watching Ami and Minako fight that when in Senshi form they had far superior physical skills than they did when in normal form. "You're lucky you aren't going with Heero," said Duo once Minako got herself positioned and buckled into her chair.

"Why is that?"

"Wing ZERO has this messed up cockpit system. It screws with your head. He's learned to control it, but I hope he warns Sakura-san before starting up the system."

After helping Sakura get as comfortably seated as possible in the cramped second seat of Wing ZERO, Heero knelt down and looked her straight in the eyes. "Sakura-san," he began. "I have to warn you about this suit." Sakura was a little confused at what Heero was talking about and it showed in her facial expression. "This suit utilizes a cockpit system called the ZERO System. It connects the mobile suit directly to the mind of the pilot. It helps with the control and reaction time of the pilot, but it isn't perfectly designed. There is a flaw. It has a tendency to mess with the head of the pilot, making them act out of character to an extent. I have mastered using this system so it doesn't effect me any longer, but I want to warn you before we leave so you can try to fight anything it might try to do to you. I promised that I would protect you, and I plan to do the same when it comes to this system. I have never had two people in the cockpit at once, so I'm not sure how it will react to a second mind, but I promise you that I will protect you from anything it makes you feel."

Sakura was a little worried about the ZERO System after Heero's statements. She knew he wouldn't have mentioned it unless it was important, but she also had faith that he would find a way to keep her out of any type of trouble. "I trust in you, Heero-kun." Heero gave Sakura a smile and kissed her quickly before settling himself into the pilot seat.

"ZERO," said Heero very softly under his breath. "Please take care of her." His request made to his Gundam, Heero let his hands fly over the numerous numbers of controls, closing the door to the cockpit and starting up the giant machine. The cockpit lit up in a yellow glow, signaling the starting up of all the systems, including the ZERO System. From outside, the rest of the group could only watch in awe as the two mobile suits stood up to their full height and stretched out their wings. The white wings of Wing ZERO spread out extremely wide to the sides and the black wings of Deathscythe unwrapped themselves from around the suit and locked into place behind it. Right before powering up their engines, the six on the ground could see the eyes of each mobile suite turn a bright green. "Are you ready, Sakura-san?"

"Hai."

"Here we go." Heero pulled back on the throttle of the suit, causing the engines under each wing to jump to full power, creating a gust of wind and dust outside. Heero then pulled on the controls and the gigantic wings flapped once and the mobile suite lifted off into the sky, doing a number of twists and turns before righting itself and hovering in the air waiting for Duo. A moment after Heero took off, Duo did the same. Putting the engine mounted on the back of the suit to full power, Deathscythe took off in a flash and shot straight up in the sky heading towards Heero's position. The other six just stared up from the ground in awe. They figured the mobile suits must be advanced, but had just been unable to picture the speed and agility the giant machines showed.

"Wow!" exclaimed Sakura when Wing ZERO stopped to a hover after the acrobatic takeoff. "That was great! This is so much fun."

Heero couldn't help but chuckle at the cuteness of the amused Sakura sitting behind him. "You haven't seen anything yet," said Heero with a laugh. Before Sakura could either protest or question, Heero took Wing ZERO to the max. Powering up the suit to full speed and using all his reflexes and piloting skills, Heero sent Wing ZERO into a series of almost physically impossible stunts, exciting screams, laughs, and cheers out of Sakura. He didn't spend too much time using ZERO to entertain his girlfriend however, and soon stopped flying tricks in the sky and stopped his suit next to where Duo was hovering in the sky. "Ready to get down to business everyone?" Heero asked to Sakura and to Duo and Minako over the intercom.

"Let's get this show on the road," came Duo's answer through the speakers in Heero's cockpit. In a flash, the engines mounted on the back of each suit both powered up fully and the two suits flew through the night sky.

With the speed of the Wing ZERO and Deathscythe, it wasn't long before Heero and Sakura began to feel the presence of the Clow Card. The two Gundams shot through the sky, eventually flying through the Earth's atmosphere and out of the layer of magically controlled darkness. On several occasions Duo had asked Heero and Sakura if they were sure they hadn't passed where they wanted to go. Based on the distance they had traveled, Heero and Sakura could understand why Duo thought they had gone too far. However, the higher they got, both magicians could clearly feel the power getting stronger and closer.

The entire flight, Sakura was filled with many conflicting emotions. She was feeling a mixture of intrigue, worry, and caring with regards to Heero and his troubled past. Surprisingly, she wasn't frightened of what Heero had done in his past, nor of what he was obviously capable of doing again in the future. She was more worried that Heero was going to close up emotionally again, and try to distance himself from her. She could tell Heero was still uncomfortable that she now knew about his past, and was worried that he felt the best way to protect her would be to leave. She also had mixed feelings about the mission they were currently undertaking. Sakura was genuinely excited and mesmerized by the fact that she was actually in space. Her attention was always shifting from the many visual monitors surrounding her, that allowed her to see the beautiful site of Earth and space, and the ever increasing power of the Clow Card. The strength of the Clow Card was beginning to scare the cute teen card captor. When she and Heero had first picked up the feeling of the Clow Card, it had already been almost as powerful as the four elemental cards, and as they kept getting closer, the power just kept increasing.

When the two Gundams finally stopped their ascent into space, they were high enough to allow a gorgeous breathtaking view of the entire planet. They had stopped when Heero and Sakura had felt the new Clow Card's energy finally reach its peak. The power was almost twice as powerful as the Light and Dark Cards, and that fact frightened Sakura immensely and even had Heero a little worried. Heero, Sakura, and especially Minako, who hadn't trained much in enhancing her magical skills, were having a little trouble pinpointing the exact location of the Clow Card because the amount of power it was emanating was so great.

It took some effort, and a lot of concentration, but Heero and Sakura had finally managed to narrow the location of the Clow Card down to a small area and all four passengers of the two mighty Gundams were looking carefully at the numerous displays in each cockpit for any sign of the Clow Card. It turned out that they didn't need to look very carefully, for when the Clow Card did decide to show itself, it was impossible to miss. In a flash of light and a surge of power that was so bright and strong that Ami, Syaoran, Eriol, Tomoyo, Ukyo, and Ranma all saw and felt it back on Earth, the Clow Card's physical form appeared before them.

Author's Notes:

This chapter requires a good deal of explanations in regards to the Gundam Wing portion. Since it would be impossible to incorporate the correct Gundam Wing timeline into this story, I had to make one up instead. The basic history of the Gundams is this: Instead of coming from the colonies (which don't exist in my story) the Gundams are military weapons that settle disputes on the Earth sphere. After they had taken care of the problems of the Earth, the pilots took their Gundams and hid them so they couldn't be used for selfish purposes. In regards to the other characters from the Gundam Wing saga, I had to change a few details here and there with them too. Quatre is still the head of the Winner Family Business just like in the anime series, but instead of it being based in outer space, it is a Earth based organization. Relena is once again the Princess of the Sanc Kingdom and will remain that way throughout my story. Milliardo Peacecraft is also alive and by this time is married to Noin. The Tallgeese in my story is the Tallgeese III (also from Endless Waltz in case anyone was wondering) and the Taurus that Noin has is the white Taurus from the series (the one in Endless Waltz is pretty much exactly the same as the one in the regular series) and is the only mobile suit besides the Tallgeese and Gundams that was ever built. Now that that is settled, I again want to say I'm sorry for taking so long to post this latest chapter. It is not finished yet, Chapter 9 Part IV is still in the works, but I'm trying to finish it as quickly as possible, but decided to upload Chapter 9 Parts I-III early. By the way, to the people who have read my story already and are just reading the updated new chapters, I made a few minor changes in the first 8 chapters, including adding comments on the bottom of each section. Nothing major though. Sorry this Author's Notes is so long, but I'm done now. Part IV will be out as soon as I can manage it!


	27. Sakura Meets ZERO Part IV

Above the Earth

The Clow Card was of humanoid shape, and floated, with its arms crossed, in front of the two Gundams. Although it was dwarfed in size by the two giant machines, the figure looked no less daunting. It was wearing a long cloak that was a kind of mix between the cloak worn by the Shadow Card and a long trench coat. The cloak was not one single color however, but was instead split into two distinct halves. One half was jet black and the other half a gleaming white. Under the hood, where normally a face would be visible, was pure blackness with a few randomly placed white sparkles. The entire figure was surrounded by a white aura. Not the same pure white aura as Heero's, but one that was slightly darker, giving and eerie ghostly feel to the Card. The sight both inspired awe and induced fear in the hearts of the four teens who witnessed its appearance.

Before the group even had time to finish coping with the sheer audacity of the Clow Card, it attacked. From each gloved hand, the Clow Card created a single ball of energy. It hurled the white ball of energy at the Deathscythe and the black one at Wing ZERO. Since Heero had the ZERO System in his Gundam, his reaction time was just fast enough to manage to dodge the energy ball. Unfortunately, Duo did not have the ZERO System and so his reactions were just a split second slower. This split second turned out to be the difference, as the high-speed energy ball impacted Deathscythe and completely destroyed the entire left wing of the suit.

"Shit!" cursed Duo as his suit was hurdled off balance from the impact of the blow.

"Keep your distance Duo," said Heero over the intercom. "Your suit is in no shape to battle something that can move so fast and is obviously so powerful."

Duo didn't respond to Heero's warning, instead he swore under his breath, knowing Heero was right, but still not liking to admit to his helplessness at the situation. "Minako-chan," Duo said over his shoulder while he attempted to get his Deathscythe back under control. "Are you alright?" Duo was answered by an unexpected silence. "Minako-chan?" he asked again, beginning to worry. When he still got no answer, he turned around to see Minako slumped in her chair with her head leaning against the side of the cockpit and her eyes closed. "Oh no," he gasped as he quickly unbuckled himself to reach back and check her vital signs. He sighed a small sigh of relief when he felt that she had a pulse and was breathing. Her pulse was weak, and her breathing a little erratic, but she didn't seem to be in a life threatening state. Duo also noticed a trickle of blood running down the side of her face, and assumed she had probably gotten a concussion from hitting her head when the Clow Card's attack impacted the Gundam. "Heero," said Duo into the radio as he reseated himself. "You guys are on your own. Minako's hurt, I have to get her back to the Earth."

"Is it bad?" Duo heard Sakura ask worriedly through the intercom.

"It looks like she hit her head. She's unconscious, but I don't think her life is in any immediate danger. But I should get her to a doctor as quick as possible."

"Just take care of Aino-san," said Heero. "We'll handle everything here."

Duo nodded, although neither Heero nor Sakura could see it, and then powered up the Deathscythe's engines and began the trip back down to the planet. He silently prayed that his destroyed wing wouldn't make reentry too difficult.

"Hold on tight Sakura," said Heero when he saw the Clow Card ignoring Duo's retreating Gundam and creating two new energy balls. "This may get a little intense." Heero had no idea how intense it was really going to get. The Clow Card released its two energy attacks and they both flew side by side, straight at Wing ZERO. As Heero prepared to dodge the quickly incoming balls of energy, his job suddenly got exponentially more difficult. Moments after being released from the hands of the Clow Card, both energy balls erupted into ten smaller energy balls. Each new attack was also directed in the direction of Wing ZERO, but this time they were coming from a number of different angles and at slightly different speeds. With a little assistance from the ZERO System, Heero did manage to dodge the majority of the incoming attacks with a series of intense aerial maneuvers that made Sakura a little dizzy and had her holding onto her chair for dear life. Unfortunately it was just not possible to dodge every single one of the small energy attacks, and two managed to impact on the giant form of Wing ZERO. The main section of the right wing got hit pretty good, limiting Heero's maneuverability a fraction, and the second attack grazed the upper area of the left arm, but didn't do any serious damage. Only diverting his attention for just long enough to make sure Sakura was okay, Heero prepared for the next attack. He fired a few rounds with his shoulder mounted machine guns at the Clow Card, but was disappointed when the bullets simply passed straight through the cloaked figure without causing any damage. Since the machine guns didn't seem to have any effect, Heero took out one of his beam sabers. He was about to attack when he saw the aura of the Clow Card flare up, creating a blinding white light. The light was so incredibly bright that both Heero and Sakura had to turn their heads and shield their eyes. When the light finally faded away, allowing Heero and Sakura to look back at the opponent, they found that the Clow Card had changed from being slightly larger than the size of a person to being a little over three-fourths the size of Wing ZERO. The new size didn't worry Heero; in fact he had been fearing earlier that the Clow Card was going to be too small to fight properly. What had both Heero and Sakura really worried, was that the power of the Clow Card had grown just as much as its size.

"Heero-kun," said Sakura nervously. "Please tell me I'm wrong, but did the Clow Card's magical energy just jump even higher."

"Unfortunately you're not wrong. This is unbelievable."

"How do we stop something so powerful?"

"I'm not sure, but we have to try." After getting Sakura's agreement and telling her to hold on, Heero flew Wing ZERO straight at the Clow Card and proceeded to attack. Unfortunately, Heero's attack with his beam saber turned out to be just as fruitless as his earlier attack with his machine guns. The Clow Card didn't even bother to move as Heero's energy weapon sliced straight through the magical figure, but didn't cause any type of damage. "I don't think conventional weapons will work against this thing," said Heero after a couple more attempts to harm the Clow Card using the various elements of Wing ZERO's arsenal. "We'll have to try magic."

Sakura nodded her head and pulled out her Star Pendant. When Sakura closed her eyes and started to concentrate her magical energies, her pink aura and her magic circle both appeared beneath her, just like always. However, this time a couple other things happened as well. When Sakura began her own magical practices, it also caused Heero's aura to manifest itself, even though Heero wasn't concentrating his magical energy, and it also caused Heero's magic circle to appear. Another unusual effect of Sakura's concentration of her magical energy was that a white glow began to show around the entire form of Wing ZERO. Neither Sakura nor Heero actually noticed any of this happening, as Sakura's eyes were closed and Heero was a little busy attempting to dodge the new wave of energy attacks being sent in his direction by the Clow Card. "Key that Hides the Power of the Stars. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Sakura Command You Under Contract. Release!" The moment Sakura was finished with her incantation, her eyes shot open. The reason for her surprise was that instead of feeling her Key of Star turn into the Star Wand, she had felt the Key completely disappear. At the same moment, Heero also got slightly distracted from his task of piloting the Gundam when he felt his Key disappear from the chain around his neck. "Heero-kun," said Sakura urgently. "My Key didn't transform. It just disappeared."

"I know," responded Heero. "Mine did the same." At that moment they both saw a large ball of black energy streaking straight at Wing ZERO at a speed that was so fast that it wouldn't allow Heero enough time to dodge the attack. Sakura was about to scream in fear for her life when the ball suddenly impacted against some type of invisible barrier in front of the Gundam and exploded. Had they been paying more attention to their surroundings, Heero and Sakura would have both noticed that their auras had combined together, even without them trying to make them do so. Not only was the pure white aura surrounding the entire cockpit of Wing ZERO, but it had also manifested itself around the body of the mobile suit as well. The Clow Card halted its relentless attack when it saw its energy ball impact against the aura shield. The aura continued to build around the Gundam, and when it had successfully surrounded the entire machine, it flashed an intense white light. When the light subsided, there were a number of changes in the form of Wing ZERO. The most obvious was that the white metal wings that outstretched from the back of the mobile suit were now made up of pure energy. The previous damage to the wings and the arm of the mobile suit had now vanished and the entire suit had a faint white glow surrounding it. The other main change was that the beam saber that was in the hand of Wing ZERO had been replaced by a new weapon. The new weapon obviously contained some magical power since it too had the white aura of Sakura and Heero's combined power surrounding it. The weapon looked like a mix between Sakura's wand and Heero's sword. It was mainly a sword, of fencing style, like Heero's Clow weapon, but the base now had a star just like Sakura's wand.

Normally, Sakura and Heero would have been very confused by what had just happened, but for some reason they knew exactly what had happened. Apparently the ZERO System overloaded when Sakura began releasing her magical energy, and it had combined it with the magical energy of Heero. Having never had two different minds in the cockpit to deal with, or ever having encountered magic before, the system didn't really know how to deal with the situation. What ended up happening was the system took the combined magical power of Heero and Sakura and had transferred it directly into Wing ZERO. Heero assumed that he knew this had happened because of the interface with the ZERO System. The ZERO System had also somehow linked Heero and Sakura's minds together, so no communication was necessary between the couple before action was taken. Heero piloted Wing ZERO straight at the Clow Card and attacked with the new sword it now held. This time the Clow Card did move when Heero attacked. It obviously felt the power being emanated from the Gundam and knew it now had the ability to damage it. The Clow Card dodged Heero's sword attacks, moving much faster than Heero had anticipated it would be able to.

Despite the superior agility of the Clow Card, Heero's relentless attack eventually allowed the new mystical sword of Wing ZERO to make contact with its target. The aura around the Clow Card grew slightly larger when the sword pierced the shoulder of the cloaked figure, and the Clow Card suddenly disappeared and reappeared approximately a hundred yards away. With a little space and time to get prepared, the Clow Card created two energy weapons of its own. Both weapons looked like energy short swords, with one being white and the other black. Sakura and Heero figured they may need a shield against the newly armed foe to make sure it was unable to strike the Gundam. In their shared mind they decided to release the Wall Card and the Shield Card. As soon as the thought happened, both cards floated away from their respective masters and released. The physical forms of the two Clow Cards never appeared; instead they both combined and created a magical shield that was mounted on the left forearm of Wing ZERO.

"You ready?" Heero asked Sakura although he already knew the answer.

"Let's do this," she answered seriously. It didn't occur to her, but she sounded quite a lot like Heero normally did. Apparently the link between Heero and Sakura's mind had caused a few changes in each of their personalities.

Wing ZERO shot forward at its opponent at a speed that was close to ten times that of its normal operating capabilities. The dual sword armed Clow Card also charged at the incoming Gundam, and the resulting battle was one of great magnificence. As the magical weapons of both figures clashed together, great beams of energy were sent in every direction. The Clow Card's fighting abilities and Heero's piloting skills were evenly matched and neither Wing ZERO nor the Clow Card was able to get a good strike in. Time and time again, Heero would attack, only to have his strikes blocked by one or both of the Clow Card's blades, and then have to defend when the Clow Card went on the offensive.

As the fight wore on, it became clear that the Clow Card was gaining an advantage. Heero was finding himself on the defensive more and more often and the Clow Card's strikes were getting closer to finding a target. From somewhere in their shared consciousness, Heero and Sakura remembered one of the new Clow Cards they had previously captured. They remembered the Replicate Card and thought they could probably use its power right now, but the only problem was that it wasn't changed into a Heero Card yet, and Heero was too busy dodging the twin blades of this newest Clow Card to change it. This didn't bother Sakura, who called the Replicate Card to her hand and attempted to change it with their combined power. "Card Created by Clow. Discard Your Old Form and be Reborn, Under the Name Sakura; Your New Mistress." The Replicate Card Sakura was holding in her hands lit up and began to change. Sakura had somehow known that when she tried to change the card it would work, but was surprised to see that even though she did the spell, the new Clow Card had changed into a Heero Card. The card now had the white back and borders of the rest of the Heero Cards, as well as Heero's name engraved on the bottom. The picture on the Replicate Card was now a blue figure in the center, with two faint copies of itself on each side and slightly behind it. Sakura released the Replicate Card as soon as it was changed and the card unleashed its power and created two copies of the giant figure of Wing ZERO. It was obvious which one of the figures was the real Wing ZERO however. The real Wing ZERO still had the white aura surrounding it, as well as the energy wings and the shield on its arm. The two copies were copies of the original Wing ZERO, so they didn't have most of the magical powers that had been instated in the real Wing ZERO.

The three Wing ZEROs all attacked the Clow Card simultaneously. This time it was Heero and Sakura that had the advantage over the Clow Card, and it was quickly pushed into a purely defensive stand. Wing ZERO and its two replications continued their relentless assault on the Clow Card, eventually causing enough damage to allow for its capture. "I Sakura/Heero, Mistress/Master of the Cards Command You. Return to Your True Form. Clow Card!" In another flash of blinding white light, the cloaked Clow Card returned to its normal size before changing into energy and reforming as a Clow Card. Once the Clow Card was captured, the aura from around Wing ZERO disappeared, the wings turned back to normal, and the Clow sword Wing ZERO was holding changed back into Heero and Sakura's pendants.

After making sure Sakura's helmet was properly set, Heero opened the cockpit of Wing ZERO and took Sakura's hand in his own, helping her out of the giant mobile suit and into the blackness of space. "Wow!" Sakura gasped. "This is amazing."

Heero just smiled at the girl who's hand he was holding. "Look at this." Heero then pulled Sakura to his body and held her around the waist from behind. The then turned the two of them around so that they were facing directly at the giant blue sphere in front of them.

"It's beautiful up here," she said quietly as she stared in awe at the view of Earth from space.

"It certainly is," answered Heero, although unknown to her, Heero was looking down at Sakura and not at the view of the Earth. As the couple was silently watching the beautiful sight of the blue Earth below them, the new Clow Card slowly floated in front of them. They grasped the card simultaneously and looked at it.

"The Night Card," said Heero. "I guess that makes sense."

"It's made from both Light and Dark," added Sakura. "No wonder it was so powerful."

"I was never worried. It's nothing the two of us couldn't handle," Heero joked, enticing a giggle from the Card Mistress. At that moment, Sakura wished she wasn't wearing a spacesuit so that she could kiss her boyfriend for his cuteness. However, since she couldn't kiss Heero at the moment, she had to be content to lean her head against Heero's chest and pull his arms around her a little tighter.

"We should head back home," Sakura sighed while taking a last look at the Earth. "We are going to have quite the story to tell once we get back."

"Okay, Sakura-san," responded Heero. He knew Sakura was enjoying the view from up in space, as well as the peace and quiet it provided, and didn't really want to go back, but all their friends would be wondering what happened. "Don't worry. We can come back up here any time you want. I can even teach you to pilot Wing ZERO if you wish."

Sakura's eyes lit up at the prospect. "Thanks, Heero-kun!" she exclaimed with a smile. Heero smiled back at his girlfriend and helped her back into Wing ZERO's cockpit. He then started up the giant machine again, and the couple began the descent back down to the Earth.

Author's Notes:

Finally finished with Chapter 9. I'm sorry it took so long to finish this latest chapter, but I've been really busy with school and whatnot, and you know that kind of stuff has to take precedence, even if I don't really want to be doing it. Well, I've already figured out what I'm going to make Chapter 10 about, although it will probably take me a while to write it all. Sorry! Please read and review and be patient with me for the next installment. Arigato!


	28. Sakura's Vacation in Hong Kong Part I

Chapter 10: Sakura's Vacation in Hong Kong

Tokyo, Japan

"Are you sure you want us to go to Hong Kong with you for the vacation?" Ami asked Syaoran. Syaoran sighed from his position of holding Ami in his arms from behind. "I'm sorry for asking so many times," said Ami quietly. "I guess I'm just scared of meeting your family."

Syaoran squeezed his arms a little tighter around the cute girl's waist. "Don't worry, Ami-chan," he said sweetly. "I'm sure my mom will love you. Also, she and the Elders all wanted to meet you and Aino-san to find out more about the Sailor Senshi."

"I just hope I make a good impression."

"Don't worry, Ami-chan," said Sakura from right next to her in her position in Heero's arms. "Syaoran-kun's mom is really nice. I've never met the Elders before though."

"Well, you'll get your chance this vacation. The Elders all want to meet you, Yuy, Ami-chan, and Aino-san. They've already met Hiiragizawa, but want to see him again too, plus my mother wants to see you and Tomoyo again. Meilin also says she can't wait to see you guys."

"So why exactly are we coming along too?" asked Duo.

"Well," answered Syaoran. "In Saotome's case, the Elders said they may have found something that can reverse the Jusenkyo spell, and I guess it just didn't seem right to not invite the rest of you. Plus my cousin, Meilin, says she wants to meet all of you too."

All ten of the college students were at the airport watching the planes land and takeoff from the terminal windows while they were waiting for their flight. It was officially the first day of Winter Vacation for the school, and they were all waiting for their plane to arrive to take them to Hong Kong. Syaoran's mother and the Elders of the Li Clan had invited all ten of them to come to Hong Kong and stay at the Li Clan Estate for the duration of the vacation. Both Syaoran's mother and the Elders were especially anxious to meet Heero, since Syaoran had told them about how he had created the new Clow Key and seemed to be the chosen master for the new Clow Cards that were popping up. The Elders were also looking forward to finally meeting Sakura as well as seeing Eriol again. They also wanted to meet Ami and Minako, since they were all surprised to find out that their future Clan leader was going to school with two of the Sailor Senshi. Syaoran's mom was looking forward to meeting Ami even more than Heero, since she had noticed the way that her son spoke about her whenever he called home. Syaoran had never said outright that they were dating or that their relationship would turn into anything really serious, but she knew her son well enough to know that something was going on between him and the Senshi.

"So what's our flight number, Li?" asked Ranma.

"The Clan chartered us a private jet," Syaoran answered. "It's supposed to leave in about half an hour. I believe it's that plane over there." Syaoran pointed towards a medium sized, very expensive looking passenger jet that was in the process of being loaded and fueled.

"Your family much be really wealthy to be able to afford a private jet just to fly us over to Hong Kong," said Ukyo. Syaoran just shrugged, since his family was one of the most wealthy families in all of China. A few more questions were asked about Syaoran's family and the extent of what being the future leader of the Li Clan entailed and before they knew it, they were all on their way to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong, China

After the flight had touched down in Hong Kong International Airport, the teens were met by two limousines sent by the Clan to pick them up and bring them to the Li Estate. When the first car arrived at the Li Residence, those who had not seen the magnificent place before thought to themselves that it really should be called the Li Palace, not the Li Estate. They gawked from inside the limo at the numerous buildings, all of a Chinese architecture style, and all very elegant in design. During the drive over, the front limousine had lost the following one somewhere in the Hong Kong traffic, and it had as of yet, not shown up at the estate. When Syaoran, Heero, Sakura, and Ami stepped out of the front limousine, they were greeted by a number of people who were standing on the steps to enter the giant main building of the estate. Syaoran, of course, recognized every one of the people waiting in front of the house. The majority of the people were servants or butlers of some type, who moved to take care of the luggage and any other small tasks that needed to be done.

After the servants left, the only ones standing on the stairs were Syaoran's mother and his four sisters with their husbands and children. As soon as they got the opportunity, all four of Syaoran's sisters all ran over to their younger brother and grabbed him into a group hug. "Xiao Lang!" they all exclaimed in unison, each saying how they missed their little brother and commenting on how cute he looked. Even though all four sisters were now married and the two eldest already each had a child of their own, they were still as hyper and youthful as ever when it came to their little brother. Once they were satisfied they had given their little brother a sufficient greeting, the four girls turned their attention to Sakura and Ami. Sakura giggled slightly, knowing what was coming next, since she had been back to Hong Kong a couple times since she first met Syaoran's family, and each time his sisters would always do that same thing. "Ying Fa!" the girls squealed as they pulled Sakura into a tight group hug. "It's great to see you again, Ying Fa."

"It's good to see you all again too," said Sakura politely. "This is Mizuno Ami."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Ami said courteously.

"Isn't she so cute?" Ami heard one of Syaoran's sisters say. She was then caught completely off guard as the girls all squashed her as they gave her hugs and commented on how cute she looked. "No wonder our little brother likes her so much," Ami managed to hear over all the other comments. Ami blushed slightly at the remark, but the girls were so distracted that they didn't notice.

The only one that Syaoran's sisters didn't bombard, and luckily so for their own sake, was Heero. Instead he just stood off to the side and watched as his other three companions disappeared into the flurry created by Syaoran's sisters. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that there was one other woman present besides Syaoran's sisters. She was obviously older than the others, but was a very elegant woman none the less. It was also clear by the way that the others around her were situated that she must be someone of power who demanded respect. As Heero studied her more closely, he noticed that she was looking at him out of the corner of her eye. It was a very subtle gesture, but if one looked close enough, it was clear that her attention was more focused on Heero than anywhere else. When she saw that Heero had noticed her looking at him, she gracefully made her way down the steps and stopped in front of him.

"I am Li Yelan, Syaoran's mother."

Now Heero understood why it looked like everyone around them looked up this woman. He knew Syaoran was the future leader of the Li Clan, so his mother must be a person of great importance in the Clan as well. "Heero Yuy," he stated as he bowed his head, respectfully. Heero may be a really serious and cold individual sometimes, but when it came to showing reverence to those who deserved it, he always showed his respect.

"You are the one my son was saying is the Master of the newest set of Clow Cards," she more stated than asked. Heero nodded his head. "Do you mind if I check your magic?"

"Not at all," Heero answered.

Syaoran's mother extended her hand and closed her eyes in an attempt to get a feel for how much and what kind of magic Heero possessed. As she was just starting to concentrate her own magic energy so that she could feel out Heero's, the other limousine pulled up and Eriol, Minako, Duo, Tomoyo, Ukyo, and Ranma stepped out. The first thing they noticed was Syaoran, Ami, and Sakura all talking, now in a civilized manner, with four girls who looked to be between five and ten years older then themselves. They also noticed Heero standing off to the side with a very elegant and refined woman, who looked to have her hand outstretched and her eyes closed. They were about to ask what was going on and to introduce themselves when all of a sudden Syaoran's mother's eyes shot open and her face faltered slightly. Syaoran noticed this and was extremely surprised. In all his life he had never seen his mother surprised and had never seen her loose even the slightest bit of her poise. She quickly regained herself, however, and took a step back from Heero. Syaoran wanted to ask his mother what happened, but knew she would say if and when it was appropriate to do so. Heero also was curious as to what Syaoran's mother had been so surprised about, but he too showed his respect of her judgment and didn't say anything.

Now that all the guests had arrived, Syaoran's mother invited everyone into the large living room of the house, leaving the servants to take care of all the luggage. "Welcome everyone," greeted Yelan once everyone was seated. "My name is Li Yelan. I am Syaoran's mother. These are my daughters," she said as she motioned for the four girls to introduce themselves and their husbands and children. "It's good to see you again, Tomoyo, Eriol, and Ying Fa."

"I'm sorry to interrupt," said Minako. "But who is Ying Fa?"

"My name in Chinese is Ying Fa," answered Sakura. "Everyone around here calls me by my Chinese name."

Now that Minako's question had been answered, Yelan continued. "The rest of you, whom I do not know, I hope you enjoy our hospitality. I have met Yuy-san already, but I am unsure of the rest of your names."

Minako felt that since she interrupted earlier, it was appropriate for her to introduce herself first. "I'm Aino Minako," she said sweetly.

"Duo Maxwell," said Duo from next to Minako. Duo was a little uncomfortable since he was not used to being in such an elegant and formal setting.

"Saotome Ranma."

"Kuonji Ukyo," said Ranma and Ukyo right after each other as they both bowed to their host.

The last to introduce herself was Ami. She stood up from her seat next to Syaoran and bowed very formally before introducing herself. "My name is Mizuno Ami. It is a pleasure to meet you and I thank you for inviting us to stay for vacation. You have a very lovely home."

Yelan could see that Ami was a little nervous, and inwardly smiled. The blue haired girl was quite beautiful and Yelan could tell she was very sweet and caring. She also knew she must be a very strong person as well, if she was a Sailor Senshi. Yelan walked to Ami, placed a hand on each of her shoulders, and looked deeply into her eyes. "I've been looking forward to meeting you, Mizuno-san. If it is okay with you, I would like to talk with you in private sometime." Ami wasn't quite sure if she should be nervous, happy, curious, or frightened, although something told her that she had nothing to fear from the elegant woman. "You luggage is being brought to the guest rooms," said Yelan as she let go of Ami's shoulders. "Xiao Lang will show you to the guest rooms later."

Yelan then sat down and allowed her daughters and their families to mingle with their guests. When everyone was engaged in conversation, Yelan stood back up and walked over to Heero. "Yuy-san. May I speak with you in private for a moment?"

Heero new that she wanted to talk about whatever she had felt when she was inspecting his magic earlier. "Of course, Li-sama."

Yelan led Heero into an adjoining room and closed the door, giving them complete privacy. Before Yelan could say anything, Heero spoke. "I know this has something to do with when you sensed my magic earlier."

"That's correct," Yelan said. "When I was sensing your aura, I discovered a magical marker on it."

"Magical marker?" Heero asked. Syaoran, Eriol, Sakura, and even Kero and Spinel Sun taught the others often about details in magic, but Heero had never heard the term magical marker before.

"A magical marker is a particular trait that is present in certain types of magic. Members of magically endowed families usually have a certain detectable similarity in all their auras. For example, I'm sure you can now tell the feeling of a Clow Card compared the feeling you get from a person, such as my son or one of the Senshi. The Clow Cards have a very obvious magical marker; family markers are usually much more subtle."

Heero nodded his head in understanding. It was now very easy for him to distinguish the feeling of a Clow Card compared to anything else that had a magical aura. "So you think I'm from a family that you have encountered enough to know what their magical auras feel like?" he asked.

"It's more than that," Yelan answered seriously. "You have the magical marker of a member of the Li Clan."

Author's Notes:

Now I know there is no way anybody could have possibly predicted this change of events. If you did, you are either a total genius, or I telegraph my ideas a lot more than I thought. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this first part of Chapter 10. I am posting it alone, which is different than my normal habits, but since I am not able to write much very often at the moment because I have so much schoolwork I plan to continue doing this until I have time to write multiple parts at a time. If anyone has a preference or just a suggestion on which way of posting (in chucks or one part at a time) is better, please say so in your reviews! Thanks!


	29. Sakura's Vacation in Hong Kong Part II

Hong Kong, China

This time Heero was really surprised, and his face showed it. He now understood why this woman looked so astonished after feeling his magical aura. "The Li Clan? As in your Clan?"

"Correct," answered Yelan, who paused for a second to allow Heero to digest the information. "Tell me, is Heero Yuy really your real name?"

"No. I was trained since I was young, and the doctor who was responsible for my upbringing thought it prudent to give me a code name. He chose the name Heero Yuy. I haven't used my real name since I was about three years old."

"What is your real name?"

"Xiao Long," Heero stated. "I never knew my family name."

"Xiao… Long…?" Yelan stuttered. Heero was startled that the woman who had previously shown an immeasurable amount of poise was actually stuttering. Yelan gave up all hope of trying conceal her complete shock at Heero's statement. "Your name is really Xiao Long?" she managed to get out. Heero just nodded. He waited for the respected Li Clan member to say something else, but she just stared at him with wide eyes in complete silence. "Do you remember your real parents at all?" asked Yelan after finally regained enough of her wits.

"No," responded Heero in a neutral tone of voice. "Dr. J told me I just showed up their laboratory, but had no explanation on how I could have managed to get there."

"Do you know your real birthday?"

"Dr. J and his staff figured out through a genetic test that my birthday was March 31, seventeen years ago."

"Then you really are Li Xiao Long," Yelan said quietly. "The Clan searched for you for years, without any success."

"You knew me when I was just a baby?" Heero asked, now interested in the situation.

Yelan nodded her head. "You are the son of my brother and my late husband's sister. In the Clan, marriages are often arranged, and my family and the family of my husband, each had the most magic of any of the other members of the Li Clan. In an attempt to try to get a perfect heir to the Li Clan, I was engaged to Xiao Lang's father, and my older brother was engaged to my husband's younger sister."

"Where are they, may I ask?"

Yelan's mouth turned down into a frown at Heero's question. "They were killed almost fifteen years ago."

"So about the same time as I ended up at Dr. J's." Yelan nodded. "How were they killed?"

"They were killed defending the rest of our Clan," Yelan said somberly. "A demon called Charon arrived in Hong Kong and began to attack. He was extremely powerful and was wiping out anyone and everything that got in his way. He found his way to our estate, probably drawn by the combined magic power of all the people living here. A few of our fighters and magicians attempted to stop him, but were no match for Charon's overwhelming power. In the end, your parents gave their lives to trap Charon in a magical prison that would hold him for a minimum of ten years. As of yet, he has not found a way to escape, and we are hopeful that it will stay that way."

"So what happened to me then?"

"That is actually one of the greatest internal mysteries of our Clan. We don't know what happened to you. When your parents were fighting, you apparently made your way out to the battlefield. Even when their powers were combined together, you parents didn't have enough energy to imprison Charon. However, when you came onto the battlefield, you somehow generated an incredible amount of magical power and successfully gave your parents enough extra energy to trap the demon. Unfortunately, the spell that your parents used took up too much of their energy and caused them to pass away. You, somehow, just disappeared from the premises completely. We searched for some trace of you, but it seemed as if you had just vanished. We had feared that you might have been trapped along with the demon, Charon, in the magical prison, but thought it very unlikely. In the end, we assumed you too had passed away from overusing your magical powers and we had to live life with Xiao Lang as the only possible heir to the position of leader of the Li Clan."

Heero wasn't really sure what to make of the situation. Here he was in Hong Kong, supposedly on vacation from school, and the first thing he finds out is that he is really a member of the Li Clan, and not only that, but at one point in his life, was a possible choice for leader of the illustrious family. Suddenly, something else occurred to him. "So that makes you my aunt and Li is my cousin." Yelan nodded her head in affirmation. "Did my parents have any other children?"

This time Yelan shook her head slowly from side to side. "Unfortunately, no. You were their first and only child. It saddened all of us greatly when they were killed and you disappeared."

Heero would have thought that he would have a lot more questions to ask about such a situation that he found himself in, but nothing really came to mind. "So what do I do now?" he finally asked.

"I have to tell the Elders about this," responded Yelan. "But I'll leave it up to you when it comes to telling my son and the rest of your friends. In terms of your position in the Clan, that is up to the Elders and yourself. For the meantime, enjoy yourself as a guest, just as you had originally planned."

"I understand, but I must warn you of one thing. It is very unlikely that I am the person you or the rest of the Clan envisioned I would become all those years ago." With that said, Heero stood up and left the room, not rudely, but somewhat hastily, leaving Yelan still sitting and wondering about why he would have said something like that.

When Heero walked back into the living room he found that Syaoran's sisters had all disappeared somewhere, leaving only his fellow classmates sitting and talking. "Finally back," stated Duo when he saw Heero walk into the room. Heero was still a little preoccupied thinking about what Yelan had told him, so he didn't pay much attention to Duo and didn't even bother giving him the usual death stare.

"Is everything alright, Heero-kun?" asked Sakura quietly as Heero took the seat next to her.

"Hai," said Heero in a voice that made Sakura question if he was telling the truth. She chose not to ask anything else for the moment, and wait until she could be alone with Heero to find out what was wrong with him.

"Li-kun was just about to give us a tour of the estate," said Minako. "Now that Yuy-kun is back, should we go?"

"What happened to my mother?" Syaoran asked Heero.

"She said she had to talk with the Elders about something," Heero stated. He didn't know how to tell everyone, especially Syaoran and Sakura, that he was actually a member of the Li Clan, and Syaoran's direct cousin. He wasn't even sure if Syaoran had ever been told about him at all.

"Very well then," said Syaoran. "Let's get going."

Everyone stood up and followed Syaoran outside. They would be looking at all the other buildings on the estate before getting the guided tour of the main house. Sakura lagged back a little from the rest of the group when she noticed that Heero was walking slowly and obviously a little preoccupied with something. Sakura had never seen Heero look so spaced out before, and was really starting to wonder what he and Syaoran's mother could have possibly talked about to make him act this way. "I know that something is bothering you, Heero-kun," said Sakura caringly as she took up stride with her boyfriend.

Heero looked down at the sweet girl who had turned his life upside down the moment he laid his eyes upon her. He had yet to figure out what he could have possibly done in his life that made him worthy of such an angel, and yet here she was. In these short months since they had met, Sakura had learned to read him better than anyone else he had ever known. "It's just something that Li-sama told me. I'm not sure if it will make much difference to you or most everyone else, but I'm not sure how to tell Li about it."

"What is it, Heero-kun? It sounds important."

"Hai. It is a pretty big deal." Sakura waited patiently for Heero to continue his explanation. "You remember how I told you I was trained since I was young to become capable of piloting ZERO?" Sakura nodded her head, but was confused as to why Heero was brining up his Gundam and his training at this moment. "Well, what I didn't tell you was that I had no idea of where I was from before I ended up with Dr. J. That is, until now."

"I don't understand, Heero-kun," said Sakura when Heero paused in his explanation.

"Do you remember this morning when Li-sama was feeling my magic presence?" Again, Sakura nodded, but was now more confused than ever. "Well, she told me that when she was doing that, she found a magical marker on my aura."

"What's a magical marker?" asked Sakura.

"I had to ask the same question. Apparently, the auras of members of a family that have magic have a certain feeling to them. It is subtle, but Li-sama says they are definitely there."

"So she knows what family you are from?"

"Hai," answered Heero.

Sakura waited for him to continue, but for some reason he didn't do so. "Heero-kun?"

"This will probably be a little hard to believe, but according to Li-sama, the magical marker I have belongs to that of the Li Clan."

"The Li Clan?" Sakura asked, completely shocked.

"Hai. There is more. My real name is not Heero Yuy. That was the name I was given by Dr. J and is the name I have used ever since I was very young. My real name is Xiao Long. Li Xiao Long."

"Little Dragon?" questioned Sakura, who had learned enough Chinese in the past few years to figure it out.

Heero nodded. "According to Li-sama, I am the only son of her elder brother and Li's father's younger sister. Apparently when I was born, it was undecided if Li was to become the future leader of the Li Clan, or if I was."

"So you are Syaoran's cousin?" asked Sakura in an attempt to clarify the situation. It was just too much information to take in and process all at once.

"Hai. Apparently my parents gave their lives defending this estate from a powerful demon and I somehow got caught up in the situation and disappeared. The Clan was never able to find me and so assumed I was dead."

"That's terrible," Sakura said quietly. "So what are you supposed to do now?"

"I don't really know. Li-sama is talking with the Li Clan Elders about it right now, but she said it was up to me whether or not to tell the rest of you."

"You really should tell Syaoran-kun though," said Sakura thoughtfully. "I think he deserves to know."

"I know. I'm just not quite sure how." All of a sudden, Sakura broke out into a fit of giggles. This confused Heero who couldn't find anything funny about the situation. "What are you laughing at?"

"I was just thinking about how you and Syaoran-kun look alike, act alike, and usually dress alike. I mean even now you two are dressed almost identical. Me and Ami-chan always thought it was cute and funny, and now I guess it all makes sense as to why you guys might do that."

Heero just stared at Sakura for a moment. It amazed him that this angel could be so innocent and cute as to think of something like that at a time like this. In the end all he could manage to do was smile and pull Sakura into a hug. "Should we go catch up to the others? I'm curious as to what this place has to offer."

"Hai!" Sakura and Heero quickly ran to catch up with Syaoran and the others, finding them at the Li Clan training dojo.

"This is our indoor training facility, so Saotome, if you or Yuy want to train sometime during the days or the mornings, there is usually either someone here or at the outdoor training area." Syaoran then led them to the edge of a cliff next to the training facility and pointed down toward an open sandy beach. "Down there is where we train outdoors. It looks like Meilin is training right now, although I don't recognize the guy she's fighting."

"Hey Heero," said Duo. "Isn't that…"

"Hai. That's Wu-Fei."

"Wu-Fei?" questioned Sakura. "Your friend who pilots another one of those Gundam things?" Heero nodded.

"Well, Meilin did say that some new guy showed up at the Estate looking for a place to train," said Syaoran. "She also wants to see all of you, so we might as well go down there and say hi."

The gang followed a twisting path down the side of the cliff until they ended up on the beach, and then made their way to the sandy area where Meilin and Wu-Fei were sparring. It wasn't until they arrived at the edge of the training ring, that Meilin noticed the visitors. "Xiao Lang!" she cried as she stopped her training and ran over to hug her favorite cousin.

"It's good to see you too Meilin," said Syaoran.

"Sakura-chan! Tomoyo-chan!" exclaimed Meilin as she let go of Syaoran and grabbed Sakura and Tomoyo. "How are you!?"

"We're good," answered Tomoyo. "It's good to see you again, Meilin-chan."

"Oh, everybody," said Meilin. "This is…"

"Chang Wu-Fei," Duo finished for her. "It's good to see you Wu-Fei."

Wu-Fei looked up when he heard the mention of his name. "Duo? What are you doing here?"

"Li is Heero and my roommate. He invited all of us here for Winter Vacation."

"Li?" questioned Wu-Fei. "As in Meilin's cousin and the future leader of the Clan?"

"Same one. Small world huh?"

"Umm," interrupted Meilin. "What's going on here?"

"Meilin," said Syaoran. "This is Duo Maxwell and Heero Yuy. We are roommates at school. Apparently they know your friend from before he showed up at the Estate. Also this is Mizuno Ami, Aino Minako, Kuonji Ukyo, and Saotome Ranma."

"Everybody, this is Chang Wu-Fei," said Meilin for those who didn't already know Wu-Fei. "And Wu-Fei, this is my cousin, Li Syaoran, and my friends Kinomoto Sakura, Daidouji Tomoyo, and Hiiragizawa Eriol. Now I think everybody knows each other, right?"

Everyone, except Syaoran, Heero, and Wu-Fei laughed at Meilin's little joke and people shook hands as they introduced themselves to people they didn't know. "So how have things been down here?" Syaoran asked Meilin once everyone had gotten to know each other a little better.

"Well, when you left I didn't have anyone skilled enough to train with," answered Meilin. "That is until Wu-Fei showed up. You should see him fight, Syaoran-kun. He's the only person here that can fight as well as the two of us."

"I don't doubt it," answered Syaoran. "If he was in the same 'business' as Yuy, I'm sure he's a good fighter. You should see Yuy fight. It's quite impressive."

When Wu-Fei heard Syaoran's comment about being in the same 'business' as Heero, he pulled Heero aside to talk with him privately. "Is he referring to what I think he's referring to?" Wu-Fei asked Heero.

Heero nodded his head. "They all know about the Gundams. Did you tell any of the members of the Li Clan?"

"I didn't tell anyone, but Meilin did find out about Nataku," answered Wu-Fei.

Heero was a little surprised at the news since Wu-Fei, just like all the other pilots, was usually good at keeping the Gundam a secret. "How did that happen?"

"I was going to check on Nataku to make sure nobody found it. Meilin was following me, and I didn't notice until it was too late. I don't believe she told any of the other Clan members, but she forced me to put another chair in the cockpit so she could go for a ride."

Duo, who had walked up to the two Gundam pilots just in time to hear Wu-Fei's last comment, laughed. "That's a really weird coincidence, because Heero had us install a passenger seat in our Gundams as well, and have each taken one of the girls for a ride." Wu-Fei gave Heero a very odd expression. Heero, of all people, would have been the last person Wu-Fei would have expected to let someone else ride in his Gundam with him. Especially in Wing ZERO with the ZERO System.

Just at that moment, Sakura chose to run up and jump up on Heero's back and interrupt the guys conversation. "Heero-kun," she said happily. "What are you guys talking about?"

Seeing this made Wu-Fei extremely surprised. Heero was always the most unapproachable of all the pilots. He was even less approachable than himself, and yet this giggling girl had just jumped onto his back and Heero didn't seem angry at all. In fact, it almost looked as if he was enjoying himself. "Wu-Fei," said Duo, interrupting Wu-Fei's thoughts. "I almost forgot to tell you. In these past few months, Heero has become a human." This statement resulted in a death stare from Heero being sent in Duo's direction. This time the stare didn't faze Duo, since he knew Heero wouldn't do anything in front of Sakura. "He even got himself a girlfriend." Wu-Fei looked at Sakura, who was still on Heero's back, and saw the cute auburn haired girl blush slightly from being called Heero's girlfriend.

"This will definitely make the Princess happy," said Wu-Fei with a laugh. Duo started laughing along with Wu-Fei at the thought of how Princess Relena would react to the situation.

"What's so funny?" asked Sakura, who was extremely confused at the situation.

"Princess Relena has been trying to get Heero to act normal for a long time," answered Duo. "She even tried to convince him to go out on dates with some of the girls in her Kingdom, but he always refused. I just can't wait to see her face when she finds out about you two." Heero decided at that moment to save himself from further ridicule, and walked over to where the rest of the group was talking, giving a happily giggling Sakura a piggyback ride over in the process.

"So where is Auntie Yelan?" Heero and Sakura heard Meilin ask when they arrived back at the other conversation. "She sounded like she had a lot to talk to all of you about."

"Mother was talking alone with Heero and then said she needed to speak with the Elders," answered Syaoran.

Meilin looked at Heero with a curious expression. "You're Heero, right?" Heero nodded his head an affirmative. "So what were you talking with Auntie Yelan about?"

"It's complicated," answered Heero, who still didn't want to tell everyone about being a Li until Yelan had finished her meeting with the Elders. "It was basically about my magic power."

"That's strange," commented Meilin. "She seemed so interested in finding out about all of your magic powers. Why didn't she do a check of everyone before going to see the Elders?" Obviously, both Heero and Sakura knew the answer to the question, but Heero had no intention of telling everyone yet, and Sakura felt it wasn't her place to mention it. "Well, anyway, Heero-kun. Tomoyo-chan tells me that you have been spending quite a lot of time with our little Sakura," said Meilin with a grin and a wink. Heero made no noticeable gesture and no verbal comment to Meilin, but it was easy to see Sakura trying to hide her blush as she hid her head in the back of Heero's neck. "We always thought Sakura-chan would end up with Xiao Lang, but it sounds like she's happy with you. But make sure not to mistreat her, or you'll have me to answer to."

Heero wasn't sure if he should respond to the comment made by Syaoran's cousin, since he knew he would never mistreat the angel who was presently attached to his back, but didn't particularly feel like expressing his feelings in front of everyone present. Luckily for him, Yelan picked that moment to walk up the beach towards the group.

"Hello mother," greeted Syaoran.

"Hi Auntie Yelan," added Meilin.

"Xiao Lang, Meilin, everybody" said Yelan. Everybody saw Yelan raise an eyebrow ever so slightly when she noticed the position Heero and Sakura were in at the moment. "Xiao Lang, Ying Fa, Yuy-san, and Mizuno-san. The Elders would like to speak with you." Without even waiting for an answer, Yelan turned around and began walking back up the path towards the main area of the Estate. Not wanted to disrespect Syaoran's mother or the Elders, Syaoran, Ami, Sakura, and Heero all followed behind Yelan on the journey up the cliff to go see the Li Clan Elders.

Author's Notes:

Here's the second part of Chapter 10 everybody. I had a three day weekend this weekend so I had a little time to do some writing, but not enough to completely finish the chapter. I'm still deciding what else I want to have happen in this chapter, but I hope you all have enjoyed it so far. Again, I would like to thank everyone who has read and reviewed my fic, especially Hana-Lai and AnimeFreak242, who have each reviewed numerous times. Thanks everyone! Hopefully more will be coming soon!


	30. Sakura's Vacation in Hong Kong Part III

Hong Kong, China

The four teens followed Yelan until they reached the temple on the estate which held the chambers of the Li Clan Elders. Before entering the sacred building, Yelan stopped and said she had to speak with Heero alone again. Heero followed Yelan into the temple and waited for her to begin. "Xiao Long," Yelan began, which caused a slight raise in one of Heero's eyebrows at being called his real name. "I know I told you that it would be up to you if and when you told Xiao Lang and the others about your true history, but a decision made by the Elders is forcing you to tell them right now. In reality, Mizuno-san and Ying Fa don't need to know, but it is essential that you tell Xiao Lang."

"I have already told Sakura-san about being a Li," answered Heero. "May I ask why I must tell Li and the others about this now?"

"I am not at liberty to say, but when you meet with the Elders, they will explain it to you."

Heero looked at his newly found aunt for a moment before nodding his head. "I understand. I will tell them when you beckon them into the temple."

Heero waited for a second as Yelan exited the temple and told Syaoran, Sakura, and Ami to enter. Once inside, Yelan also informed them that Heero had something he needed to share. "I'm sure you all are wondering why Li-sama needed to talk to me alone on these couple occasions since we arrived here in Hong Kong," began Heero. Syaoran and Ami each nodded their heads, and Sakura just looked on, curious as to why Heero was telling Syaoran and Ami about his secret right now. "Well, the reason is because she found what is called a magical marker on my aura when she examined it this morning."

"A magical marker?" asked Ami.

"A magical marker is a signature of a family's magical presence on a family member's aura. They are usually very subtle and it takes a lot of magical focus to detect one," answered Syaoran. "What family's marker do you possess?"

"That is what I needed to tell you. The magical maker on my aura belongs to the Li Clan."

"The Li Clan?" questioned Syaoran in a mix of shock and disbelief.

"Hai. That is not all, however. After piecing together a number of events, we have determined the exact way I am involved with the Li Clan. My real name is not Heero Yuy. That was a code name I was given when I was young, and is the name I have used ever since. My real name is Xiao Long. Li Xiao Long. I am the son of Li-sama's brother, and Li's father's sister. The end result is that I am a direct cousin of Li, and at one point in my life was also a candidate for future leader of the Li Clan."

"You mean my Aunt and Uncle that you said died all those years ago were married and had a son?" Syaoran asked his mother.

"Correct," answered Yelan. "Their son was named Li Xiao Long, and was almost a year younger than yourself. You were never told about your cousin after he disappeared in order to make sure you would focus completely on your training for future leader of the Clan. The Elders are waiting. We must go."

The teens all followed Yelan into a large elegant chamber. The interior walls were ordained with many beautiful gold carvings and the large columns in the room were decorated with artwork made from ivory, gold, and marble. At one end of the chamber sat five elderly men. Each one had a certain poise and demeanor about them that demanded respect from all those who encountered them.

"Elders," said Yelan as she bowed to the older men. "May I introduce Kinomoto Ying Fa, Mizuno Ami, Li Xiao Long, and you know my son, Xiao Lang."

"Greetings," said the Elder sitting on the far right. He then motioned to the eldest of the Elders, who was sitting in the center. "This is Li Qian Louh. On the left is Li Dong Zhou and Li Huang Da, and this is Li Xing Hua. You may call me Li Fan Fu."

"It is an honor to meet you," said Ami as she, Heero, and Sakura all bowed politely.

"You are the Senshi whom we are told has been engaged in romantic relations with Xiao Lang, correct?"

Ami was a little surprised at the forwardness of the Elders and glanced over to Syaoran to see him nod, indicating to tell the truth. "Hai," she answered slightly nervously.

"She is unacceptable," stated Dong Zhou angrily. He was sitting to the left of Qian Louh; the seat for the second most powerful of the Elders. When Sakura and Ami had entered the chambers of the Elders, their first impressions of Dong Zhou was that he seemed to be the most critical looking of all the Elders. Fan Fu, who had introduced everyone, had been wearing a slight smile on his thin lips and Qian Louh, Huang Da, and Xing Hua each had an emotionless face. However, when they entered the room, Dong Zhou had already had a frown across his weathered face. "The future leader of our Clan must marry another from within the Clan to make sure the bloodline stays pure." What Ami didn't know, but the other Elders did, was that Dong Zhou's own daughter was the prime candidate for a match with Syaoran from within the Clan. The marriage between the future leader and his own daughter would even further improve his status within the Clan.

"Master Dong Zhou," said Fan Fu calmly. "Please don't be rude to our guests. First of all, we have never mentioned anything about marriage between these two, and even if we had, she is a Sailor Senshi, which would bring a new magical power to the Li Clan."

"The girl is too frail to be the wife of our Clan leader," continued Dong Zhou, still sounding as angry as before. "The wife of our leader must be trained as such, and should come from our own Clan."

Fan Fu wanted to stand up for Ami, but his position as the lowest ranking of the Elders wouldn't allow him to challenge Dong Zhou in any way that might seem disrespectful. As such, there was nothing he could do when he noticed Dong Zhou preparing to say more belittling comments about the Senshi. However, Fan Fu's worries didn't come to pass, as Qian Louh interrupted before Dong Zhou could say anything more. "That is enough," he stated firmly. "Please come here child," Qian Louh said kindly to Ami. "I will not harm you; I only wish to feel your magic aura."

Ami, who almost felt like running from the room to escape the badgering by Dong Zhou, walked very slowly up to where Qian Louh was sitting. When she was close enough, Qian Louh held his arm out straight and began to feel Ami's magical aura. The others all watched as a small smile formed on the lips of the Eldest member of the Clan. When Qian Louh opened his eyes once again, the smile faded from his face, but it was clear in his eyes that something had pleased the old man. "You have a strong aura," he said as Ami walked backwards to stand by Syaoran again. Being the leader of the Elders, Qian Louh usually knew what the other Elders opinions were and usually spoke for the group as a whole. He knew Dong Zhou still didn't accept this girl because she was an outsider and she may also jeopardize his chances of arranging a marriage between Syaoran and his daughter, but the other three Elders all seemed to like Ami, and he himself was intrigued by the fact that even though she possessed such a great amount of magical energy, her personality was still that of a shy young girl. "It is the decision of the Clan that we have no objections to the relationship between Li Xiao Lang and Mizuno Ami, and we wish you both the best of luck in the future."

Ami was extremely happy to hear that the Elders accepted her. She knew that Dong Zhou still didn't accept her, but even that didn't disappoint her, because she knew Fan Fu liked her, and it seemed as if Qian Louh liked her as well. Ami made sure to bow and say thank you to all the Elders, even Dong Zhou, before retaking her place by Syaoran's side.

Syaoran was happy, just like Ami, but he was more surprised than anything else. He knew the tradition was for him to marry a member of the Clan that had been trained to serve as the wife of the future leader and also to keep the bloodline of the Clan as pure as possible. He also knew Dong Zhou's daughter would have been one of the possible girls he would have been forced to marry, even though on the few occasions that he met her, he had not been impressed. He hadn't been expecting the Elders to say outright that they accepted Ami as a possible future partner, and especially had not expected them to wish them luck, as if they were wanting them to end up together. But he knew better than to voice his opinion on such matters, so instead he took Ami's hand gently into his own and smiled down at the beautiful Senshi, who's eyes shone with both joy and relief.

"Kinomoto Ying Fa," said Qian Louh, breaking Sakura out of her trance of being happy for Ami and Syaoran.

"H-hai!" she stuttered in response to beckoning of the Elder as she stepped forward a couple steps.

"You are the Mistress of the Clow Cards, correct?"

"Hai!"

"I have been looking forward to meeting you for some time now," Qian Louh continued. "We have no questions of you for the moment, but it is an honor to finally meet you."

"Thank you, Master Qian Louh," responded Sakura with a bow, before stepping back to where she was standing before.

"Li Xiao Long," said Qian Louh as all five Elders looked directly at Heero. Heero didn't respond to the Elder, except by bowing his head slightly as a sign of respect. "I wanted to meet you even before knowing your true identity so I could determine myself what magic you possess to make you the Master of the new Clow Cards I hear are appearing in Japan. However, now that we have discovered who you really are, there is a new issue in which you need to be made aware of. As you know, when you were born you were in a position to become a likely choice as leader of the Li Clan. After you disappeared, that responsibility was shifted solely to Xiao Lang. Now that you have returned, it has been decided by this Clan that if you prove yourself more capable and worthy than Xiao Lang to be the leader, then you will be chosen to lead the Li Clan."

"No," answered Heero in his usual serious tone of voice. This answer surprised the Elders, and it showed. Nobody ever questioned the Elders and certainly nobody ever told them no.

"No?" asked Fan Fu.

"I will do my duties as a member of the Li Clan; however, the burden of being the next Clan leader is not mine to carry. It has been and still is the responsibility of Li Xiao Lang."

"That is not your decision to make," stated Dong Zhou.

"Yes it is," countered Heero. "I was not raised as a Li. I was not trained to become the Li Clan leader. I am not a crucial part of this Clan, and I am not going to be the leader of it under any circumstances."

All the Elders were frowning at Heero's obvious disregard of their authority in this situation, except Qian Louh. Qian Louh actually had a slight smile on his face. "Good," he said to Heero. This time it was Heero's turn to be surprised as the eldest of the Elders completely caught him off guard with his comment. "You have shown loyalty to yourself, your friends, and your Clan. You have also shown that you have no intentions of taking advantage of your birthright. The others all believe you should have your chance at becoming leader of the Clan, but I do not believe it is in the best interests of the Clan for you to become the leader."

Heero paused for a moment before nodding to Qian Louh. He was just beginning to understand just how much wisdom this Elder really possessed, and it gave Heero a new respect for the judgment of the old man.

"However," continued Qian Louh. "I do expect you to show respect to your heritage and traditions and also show loyalty to your Clan and its future leader."

"Of course, Master Qian Louh," answered Heero as he bowed formally to the Elder.

"On a different, yet related subject," said Qian Louh, again surprising Heero who thought the conversation with the Elder had come to a close. "I also hear that the Master and Mistress of the Clow Cards have been romantically involved for some time now." This statement caused Sakura to blush a deep shade of red, because of her embarrassment that even the Elders of the Li Clan knew she and Heero had been dating. "I would like to wish you two luck in your relationship as well."

"T-Thank you," managed to stutter Sakura, despite her extreme embarrassment at the situation. Qian Louh started laughing heartily at the sight before him before excusing everyone and telling Sakura, Heero, and Ami that he may wish to talk with them at a later time, but for now to enjoy their stay at the Estate. Once Yelan and the four teens had exited the temple, Dong Zhou immediately rose from his seat and stormed out of the temple to his own private chambers, saying he needed to think alone. After he left, the other four elders sat around and discussed with each other just how powerful the possible offspring from either one of the teen couples could become.

Author's Notes:

To tell everyone the truth, I am disappointed at how this chapter turned out. The idea sounded good in my head, but after writing it, it sounds choppy and really boring. I'll try to do better in the next section of the chapter. Just to let you all know, I think there is going to be at least five sections in this chapter. I want some more stuff to happen, including a new action/adventure part in the chapter. Anyway, sorry for the lame chapter update this time.


	31. Sakura's Vacation in Hong Kong Part IV

Hong Kong, China Couple Days Later

"And that's the whole story," finished Heero. It had taken Heero a couple days to come to a conclusion, but he finally decided that there was no reason not to tell the others about his relation to Li and the rest of the Li Clan.

All the others, especially Eriol, just sat still with their mouths hanging open, completely shocked at the news. "So you and Li are related?" asked Ranma for a bit of clarification.

"We are cousins related on both our mother and father's sides."

"I knew Heero Yuy wasn't your real name, but I would have never guessed you were a possible leader of the Li Clan," said Duo.

"This is so cool," squealed Tomoyo. "We knew Li-kun and Yuy-kun were so similar, but who would have guessed they were directly related."

"It looks like I've got myself another dear descendant," chuckled Eriol.

"So that means you are related to me too?" asked Meilin.

"Heero's relations on both sides of the family are exactly the same as mine," answered Syaoran. "Since you are my cousin on my mother's side, you are also his cousin, but on his father's side."

"Kero-chan is going to flip when he finds out Yuy-kun is related to Li-kun," laughed Tomoyo. Everyone else, except Wu-Fei, since he had never met Kero, Heero, and Syaoran, started laughing along with Tomoyo, just imagining how the cute magical creature would react to knowing the boyfriend of his mistress was related to his 'worst enemy'.

"Excuse me everyone."

"Hello, Li-sama," greeted Sakura when the elegant woman interrupted their conversation.

"Excuse the interruption, but I am here to inform you that tonight there is a banquet in honor of both Xiao Lang and Xiao Long. I would have informed you about it sooner but I had to wait for my nephew to inform you of the complete situation."

"Thank you, Li-sama," said Heero. "Are there any details about the dinner we should be aware of?"

"The majority of you should plan to arrive around six thirty, but for introductory purposes, Xiao Long and your escort, whom I assume will be Ying Fa, are to arrive later than everyone else. You will be summoned when it is time for you to make your entrance. The proper attire for the banquet for all of you should be in your rooms by now, otherwise they will be there shortly."

"Li-sama," said a low ranking member of the Clan in an urgent voice as he ran into the room where they were all situated. "The two sons of Li Dong Zhou are outside demanding to speak with you."

"What could they want?" Syaoran asked nobody in particular. Syaoran never did like Dong Zhou or the majority of his immediate family. He knew that after him, one Dong Zhou's offspring had a chance of becoming the leader of the Clan, and therefore both of Dong Zhou's sons always disrespected him as much as they openly could.

All twelve teens followed Yelan out the pair of large doors and into the spacious entry area of the Li Mansion. Standing in the center of the black dragon emblem that adorned the red circular rug in the middle of the entry area were two men dressed in traditional Chinese fighting outfits. Both looked to be in their mid to late twenties and stood with an aura of superiority about them. "I am Li Meng Ping. This is Li Meng Guo. We are the sons of Li Dong Zhou, and we are here to officially challenge Li Xiao Lang and Li Xiao Long for the position of leader of the Li Clan."

This surprised everyone present, except Yelan. She had been expecting Dong Zhou to do something like this, since his position of gaining more power was in jeopardy. She knew that Dong Zhou thought his daughter, Li Jiang Qing, was the top candidate for an arranged marriage with Syaoran. However, now that Qian Louh had officially declared that Ami was suitable to marry their future leader, as well as the appearance of Heero, Dong Zhou's plans were quickly going up in smoke. Such a public challenge hadn't been seen in quite some time, so it did surprise Yelan just the slightest bit that they had been so direct in their attempt to dethrone her son.

"You've got to be kidding," said Meilin with a face of disgust. "You two idiots couldn't even beat me and Wu-Fei in a fight. How do you expect to defeat Xiao Lang?" Meilin and Wu-Fei had fought with Dong Zhou's two sons a number of times before Heero, Syaoran, and the others had arrived in Hong Kong. They didn't live on the Estate, but they often came by to train. She would admit they weren't too bad at fighting, since they could defeat most of the other people who trained at the Estate, but every time they tried to fight Meilin or Wu-Fei they were quickly and easily beaten. Meilin had also gotten a chance to watch Heero and Syaoran fight together and had been very impressed. Syaoran had always been a little better than herself, but it appeared that he had recently improved even farther, and Heero was up to the exact same skill level as Syaoran. They didn't fight the same at all, but neither one ever looked to have an advantage over one another.

Neither of Dong Zhou's sons had a response to Meilin's mocking, since they both knew she was right. Neither one liked Syaoran since they both knew he was the only one standing in their way of gaining more power, but previously their father had told them not to ever officially challenge Syaoran since he was working on getting their sister to marry the future leader. However, something had changed the situation and their father had ordered his sons to challenge both Li Xiao Lang and Li Xiao Long to a fight. Neither of them knew who Li Xiao Long was, since Heero wasn't supposed to be introduced to the rest of the Clan until the banquet that night, but they didn't dare go against their father's orders. "Do you accept the challenge?" repeated Meng Ping.

Syaoran knew he had to accept, but looked to Heero to make sure he was willing to uphold his own duties to his Clan. Heero noticed Syaoran glancing at him, and nodded his head slightly, informing his cousin that he would fight for the respect he deserved within the Clan. "Your challenge is accepted," Syaoran stated. "What will be the fight rules?"

"Full weapons, full magic," answered Meng Ping. Both he and his brother had been practicing their magic but knew they didn't possess the same amount of raw magical potential that Syaoran had. Unfortunately, for them to be recognized as superior they had to allow magic in the fight. "The first to knock both opponents to unconsciousness or submission is the victor. There is no killing."

"Very well," answered Syaoran. "Where and when?"

"Tomorrow. Noon. The outdoor training ring."

"Accepted," declared Syaoran. "I leave it up to you to make sure the Elders are present so that they may officially declare the victor." Meng Ping and Meng Guo both nodded and turned on their heels and left the large building without another word.

After the two brothers left, Heero turned to Yelan. "How did they know about me? I was under the impression the Elders weren't going to tell anyone."

"Dong Zhou has been looking for a way to get his own family to the top rankings of the Clan for many years now," answered Yelan. "Until now I'm sure he believed his daughter was going to be wed to Xiao Lang, thus bringing his family to the top of the Clan rankings. If you noticed, neither of his sons looked directly at you, so I believe he only mentioned your name when he ordered them to challenge you and my son, but didn't tell them who exactly you were."

"Is this fight going to be dangerous?" asked Sakura, who was worried about both Heero and Syaoran.

"There is a risk of someone getting seriously injured, but as the rules stated, there is to be no killing," responded Yelan.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan," said Meilin confidently. "I've seen Yuy-kun fight, and along with Xiao Lang, there is no way they can possibly loose to those two."

"They said magic was going to be permitted, correct?" asked Ami.

"Hai," answered Syaoran. "All magic and any weapon you can carry will be allowed in the fight."

"Do those two know much in terms of attack and defense magic?"

"They have had some training," answered Yelan. "Nobody in Li Dong Zhou's family has as much magic potential as either Xiao Lang or Xiao Long, and neither of his sons has had as much mastery of their power as Xiao Lang. Plus, Xiao Long has a few powerful Clow Cards changed if I'm not mistaken, so there should be no worries when it comes to the magical aspect of the battle."

"From the sound of it," commented Duo. "It doesn't sound like either one of them has a chance in this fight. Why would they still challenge?"

"Master Dong Zhou is getting desperate," answered Eriol. "He knows his grasp at a higher position within the Clan is slipping through his fingers, so this is a last ditch attempt at gaining some leverage back. I assume that he doesn't know the extent of Yuy's battle or magic abilities, and is hoping his sons can disgrace him enough that he will be seen as unworthy of a position in the Clan. He probably also thinks he will be a handicap to my dear descendant, thus allowing Meng Ping and Meng Guo to win the fight."

"That man has no honor," stated Wu-Fei in a voice of disgust. "How did such a person become an Elder in an honorable Clan such as this?"

"He never used to pursue such self-centered endeavors until relatively recently," said Yelan. "It wasn't until a number of people from my and my husband's immediate families passed on. When that happened he must have seen that it was quite possible for him to get his family to the top positions in the Clan."

"So how exactly does this fight work?" Ranma asked. "Do they fight two one-on-one fights or is it a two-on-two?"

"It is a two-on-two fight," answered Syaoran.

"Then the two of them do have a small advantage," said Ranma thoughtfully. Everyone looked at him in curiosity. "Well, think about it. I'm sure the two of them have fought together many times before, but the two of you have never fought with each other. You have fought against each other, but never together. Plus, they may have some combined power magic attacks."

"Saotome's got a good point," said Eriol. "You two better be watchful of something like that."

"What are you two going to wear to the fight?" asked Tomoyo innocently. Everyone looked at the dark haired girl and gave her an odd expression, trying to figure out why she would think of something like that when Heero and Syaoran could possibly be seriously injured in the fight.

"Tomoyo has a point," said Yelan, gaining everyone's attention. "This is a traditional challenge, so naturally it is expected the fighters wear traditional fighting outfits."

"But Heero-kun doesn't have a traditional Li Clan fighting outfit," said Sakura.

"We would have to have one made," said Yelan. "But there isn't enough time to make it before the fight. It won't do to have him wear an old outfit. It has to be a personally made traditional style outfit."

"I'll be right back!" exclaimed Tomoyo as she ran up the stairs towards the guest rooms. Everyone watched, wide-eyed, as Tomoyo disappeared around a corner. A minute later Tomoyo came barreling back around the corner and down the stairs, stopping right in front of Heero and Yelan. "Will this do?" she asked as she held up the outfit she was carrying.

"Where did you get this?" asked Yelan as she inspected the material Tomoyo handed to her.

"I made it a while ago," she answered. "I made it based on Li-kun's fighting outfit. Not sure what made me bring it with me when we came down here, but the design is almost identical to Li-kun's, I think."

"Indeed it is," praised Yelan. "This will definitely suffice for the challenge." Yelan handed the outfit to Heero for him to inspect. Heero held it up in front of him and admired the detailed work Tomoyo had put into it. He had seen Syaoran's traditional fighting outfit a few times, and from what he could tell, it was almost the same. The most obvious difference was that Heero's outfit was white, trimmed with red, while Syaoran's was green, trimmed with yellow. He assumed Tomoyo had done that based on his aura and Clow Card colors. The second difference was the emblem on Heero's outfit was different. Instead of the same emblem that adorned Syaoran's outfit, Heero's had a black circle with a red dragon in the center. The fact that Tomoyo had chosen a dragon as the emblem for Heero's outfit was very ironic, based on his real name, and made Heero wonder if Tomoyo was some type of unconscious psychic.

"Try it on, Yuy-kun," said Tomoyo. "I need to see if it needs any adjustments." Heero nodded and walked into an adjoining room to change into the traditional attire. He emerged from the room a couple minutes later, completely dressed. For some reason he couldn't explain, the traditional outfit felt very comfortable to Heero. Not only because of Tomoyo's expert designing skills, but it just felt like he belonged in this type of clothing.

"It looks good Heero-kun," said Sakura as she walked up to her boyfriend started playing with parts of the outfit.

"How does it fit?" asked Tomoyo.

"Feels perfect," answered Heero. "How did you know what sizes to make everything?"

"Tomoyo-chan is really good at designing stuff to fit the people she wants to wear it," answered Sakura. "They almost never need any adjustments."

"It is an impressive outfit," commented Yelan. Tomoyo bowed in thanks to Yelan for the praise of her work.

At that moment, the head butler of the Li Clan Estate walked through the set of large double doors and into the room. "Master Xiao Long. Mistress Ying Fa. If you would please follow me, there are a few formalities I must inform you of before the banquet."

"Of course, Wei-san," answered Sakura with a smile. Sakura had met Wei back when she and Syaoran were still in elementary school, and was pleasantly surprised to find that he had become the head butler of the Estate. Sakura and Heero both followed Wei to find out what formalities were required of them before and at the banquet. After Heero and Sakura left, the others all dispersed to find something to keep them occupied until the banquet.

Later that evening, Heero and Sakura entered the vast, luxurious, and elegantly designed and decorated Li family main dining hall. Along each side of the room were five long tables which had what looked like at least fifty people, almost all members of the Li Clan, sitting on each side. At the end of the room was another three tables that were situated perpendicular to all the others. In the center of the head tables sat all five Li Clan Elders. In the middle was Qian Louh, and he was flanked on the left by Dong Zhou and on the right by Xing Hua. Next to them sat Huang Da and Fan Fu. To the right of the Elders sat a number of men and women that neither Heero nor Sakura had ever met. Some of them looked to be about the age of Syaoran's mother or older, and a couple were about as young as themselves. To the left of the Elders sat Yelan. Yelan sat in such a powerful position because not only was she the mother of the Clan's future leader, but she was also one of the wisest and most powerful magicians in the Clan. Because of these two facts, most members of the Li Clan treated her with as much respect as the Elders, and figured that if it wasn't for ancient tradition, she would be an Elder herself. Next to Yelan was Syaoran and Ami, followed by two empty seats, then Eriol and Ukyo. At the end of one of the side tables sat Tomoyo and Ranma, Duo and Minako, and Meilin and Wu-Fei, along with each of Syaoran's sisters and their husbands. The children of Syaoran's two eldest sisters did not seem to be present.

"May I present Li Xiao Long and Kinomoto Ying Fa," came a booming voice from somewhere to the side of them. As they had been instructed, Sakura and Heero bowed respectfully to all the people present in the spacious chamber when they were introduced. They both noticed the surprised looks on the faces of the adults in the room, and confused looks on the faces of the younger people present. It was apparent that the Elders had not informed the rest of the Clan about the purpose of the banquet. After their introduction, Heero and Sakura walked up to present themselves to the Elders, as per the instructions they had been given beforehand. They each bowed respectfully to the Elders and were greeted with a warm welcome by each Elder, except Dong Zhou who was scowling at them, but he showed no obvious signs on his thoughts about tomorrow's impending fight between Heero and Syaoran and his two sons. After greeting the Elders, Heero and Sakura bowed respectfully to Yelan, and then stepped to the left to introduce themselves to the remainder of the members at the head table. All the people were high ranking members of the Clan, one of which was Li Jiang Qing, Dong Zhou's daughter, who, according to Sakura, had a very disconcerting look in her eyes as she introduced herself to Heero. After that was done, Heero and Sakura made their way around the room, introducing themselves to everyone present. All the Clan members who were old enough to know about Heero's existence, expressed their joy at the fact that he was alive, and almost everyone articulated their delight at finally meeting Sakura, the renowned Card Mistress.

After making the exhausting journey around the crowded room, Heero and Sakura were finally able to collapse into their seats and relax. "You look very pretty, Sakura-chan," commented Tomoyo from where she was sitting a few seats away.

"_I'd have to agree with Daidouji-san,"_ Heero sent to Sakura telepathically. _"That dress looks like it was made for you."_

Sakura blushed at Tomoyo's public and Heero's private praise of her appearance. "Thanks, Tomoyo-chan. All of you look beautiful as well," she said to all of her friends.

Each girl was dressed in a form fitting silk dress that went down to just above the floor. The sleek material that each dress was made of was a different color for each girl, and had a different pattern decorating each. Sakura's dress was a very light pink color, with bright red cherry blossom patters covering its entirety. Tomoyo, Ukyo, and Meilin each had dresses that were of a single flat color, with no pattern ornamenting it. Tomoyo's dress was of a beautiful shimmering blue, Ukyo's was a dark purple that actually matched Eriol's hair quite closely, and Meilin's was a vivid red color that sparkled brightly in the well lit room. Minako's dress was similar style to Sakura's, but with different colors. The dress was of a radiant yellow color with orange flower petals embellishing the entirety of the dress. Finally, Ami was wearing a light blue dress with sparkles of a shiny slightly darker blue adorning its length.

The guys were all dressed in clothing of a style that matched each of the girls. The silken material that made up the shirts was shiny just like that of the girl's dresses, and each was a different color. Heero was wearing an outfit made of white, which glistened silver when light reflected off of it. Syaoran's outfit was the customary green he always wore, and it was a nice contrast to the light blue of Ami's dress. Eriol was wearing a blue outfit, very similar to the color of Tomoyo's dress. Ranma was the only guy who was not wearing a single color. The shirt of Ranma's outfit was a glossy red color, but his pants were black. The outfit looked normal on Ranma who still wore Chinese style clothing often while in Japan. Wu-Fei and Duo were each wearing an outfit that was dark in color. Wu-Fei's was a very dark blue, and Duo was wearing jet black.

After a few more introductions and speeches by the Elders and other important members of the Clan, the main dishes of the banquet were served. The intense aroma and the artistic arrangement of the exotic foods was a breathtaking sight for the guests. Ranma, Duo, and Sakura all especially enjoyed the look, smell, and taste of the various dishes filled with seafood, meats, and vegetables. The experience was like nothing they had ever encountered before. Such elegant and extravagant cuisine was not something they were used to and enjoyed every distinct flavor in every morsel of food that touched their lips.

The banquet dragged on for quite some time, since it was a large and important event within the Clan. However, it did eventually come to a close and most of the older people present left to go back home, while the younger people stayed and began dancing with each other to the music playing in the background. The music had changed from soothing classical music to fast paced dance music once it was only the younger members of the Clan present. All the girls had gone to the dance floor and were dancing in a small circle along with Ranma, Duo, and Eriol. Wu-Fei was talking with a member of the Clan who looked to be a little older than him, and was apparently one of Wu-Fei's frequent sparring partners. That left Syaoran and Heero as the only two people still sitting at the head table.

"I don't think the other members of the Clan understood when you said you wanted to be just a normal member of the Clan," said Syaoran to Heero as they both watched their girlfriends, along with their other friends, dancing to the up-tempo beat of the music.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Heero.

"When they introduced you tonight," answered Syaoran. "You were not introduced as just another member of the Clan. You were introduced as a leader. Don't forget, you are also sitting at the head table. Only the people who are high ranking members of the Clan ever sit up here."

"I was afraid of that," sighed Heero. "I suppose my true fate in the Li Clan is unavoidable."

"I also wanted to tell you that it means a lot to me that you aren't trying to fight for my position as the Clan leader," said Syaoran seriously. "If you had really wanted it, you probably would have gotten it. You know you have more magical power than I do, plus you are the Master of the Clow Cards. Our fighting skills are equal as well, and you have that unusual ability to heal yourself quite quickly. The only real advantages I have over you are that I was raised in the traditional Li Clan way and I am older."

"Don't worry about it. You are better for the job as leader. I may have more magical energy than you do, but you still know more about controlling it. Plus, I am not a leader. I am a soldier. When it comes to leading troops in battle, I can do that, but I am not the right person to lead an illustrious Clan such as this."

"Even still," said Syaoran as he finally turned to look at his cousin. "I am glad to have someone as capable and trustworthy as you to assist me in the responsibilities that come with our family line." After his speech, Syaoran held his hand out right between himself and his cousin. Heero looked at the member of the family he never knew he had before taking Syaoran's outstretched hand. They both shared a look of understanding that their futures would be linked, and as the two cousins shook hands they both decided that they couldn't have asked for a better person to share their future responsibilities with.

"What are you two doing?" asked Meilin, startling both Heero and Syaoran as she jumped and sat on the table in front of both of them. "Come on out on the dance floor with everyone. You two are being so boring." Meilin looked at the stare both Syaoran and Heero were giving her. "You really must be Xiao Lang's cousin," she joked. "You two are exactly the same." Meilin laughed again as she jumped down from her position of sitting on the table and grabbed Syaoran and Heero's hands and dragged the two onto the dance floor. Neither really wanted to go out and dance, since that really wasn't their thing, but Meilin really didn't leave them much choice. "Sakura-chan, Mizuno-san," Meilin said when she reached the group of friends. "Look what I found."

Sakura and Ami both giggled when Meilin shoved each Li Clan leader into the arms of their respective girlfriends. "You two weren't trying to escape, now were you?" asked Sakura in mock seductive tone of voice. _"You know there is no escape from me, my Little Dragon."_ Heero gave Sakura a peculiar look at the pet name she had just telepathically used for him. Sakura noticed Heero's curious expression and answered him before he could even ask his question. _"I just think it sounds cute."_

"_As you wish, Sakura-san," _responded Heero in his mind. _"As long as you remain my beautiful Cherry Blossom."_ Sakura blushed when Heero used the new pet name he had apparently given her. Heero saw her blush and inwardly chuckled to himself before capturing her lips in a short, sweet kiss.

When the music changed from the fast paced beats to a slower, more romantic song, a number of the teenagers in the room began to pair up to dance together. Only Syaoran and Meilin knew that the elder people of the Clan often used formal banquets as opportunities to set up their children with other acceptable people of the Li Clan in an attempt to arrange a marriage. Because of this fact, Syaoran had never before enjoyed one of the after parties that followed the formal banquets. Other members of the Clan were always trying to set up their daughters with him, and he had never come across one that had interested him. This time, however, was going to be different. This time he was with a girl he had brought of is own choosing. A girl who was not only accepted by the Elders and was intelligent, kind hearted, interesting, and beautiful, but also seemed to feel for him the same way he felt for her. "Would you care to dance with me?" Syaoran asked Ami when the music started playing.

Ami smiled at what she thought was the cuteness of her boyfriend. "I'd love to," she answered as she took his hand and the two held each other close and started dancing. She also noticed that Tomoyo and Ranma were dancing together, as were Duo and Minako, Eriol and Ukyo, and Sakura and Heero.

While she was dancing with Heero, Sakura noticed out of the corner of her eye that Meilin and Wu-Fei were dancing together near the side of the room. It surprised Sakura a bit that they were dancing together, because in all the time they had been spending at the Estate, it didn't seem like Meilin and Wu-Fei were anything more than training partners. It had seemed strange how comfortable the two seemed to be while they were dancing together, but what shocked Sakura even more was when she saw Meilin casually look around the room to make sure nobody was looking at her, and then see her stand up on her tip-toes and kiss Wu-Fei solidly on the lips. The surprise was so great to Sakura that she almost tripped while dancing with Heero. Luckily for her, Heero caught her before she could fall, but he easily noticed the surprised look on her face.

"What's wrong?" Heero asked quietly.

"Nothing's wrong," answered Sakura who was still in a little bit of awe. "It's just that I saw Meilin-chan and Chang-kun kissing and it surprised me a little."

Heero's eyebrow raised at Sakura's remark and the Gundam pilot turned to look at his new cousin and his old comrade. He saw them dancing together, but by that time they had stopped kissing. "They are a couple?"

"I guess so," answered Sakura. "I wonder if Syaoran knows."

"I don't know," said Heero. "But it isn't our place to tell anyone, so we should probably just keep it quiet for now."

"I know." Sakura then turned away from Meilin and Wu-Fei and began dancing with her own boyfriend again. While they were dancing, Sakura started a conversation inside her head. _"It's funny to think that one of my best friends since I was little is a Li Clan leader, and my boyfriend is also a Li Clan leader. It's like I have some connection to the Clan and don't even know it."_

Heero laughed inside his head at Sakura's statement. _"Well, Li-sama said that magic always attracts magic. Since you are the most powerful sorceress in the world, it makes sense that you would be drawn to others with magic. The Li family is supposedly one of the strongest magic families on the planet."_

"_I guess that makes sense," _thought Sakura. She was about to ask Heero if he knew if there were any specific duties he was going to have to perform as a member of the Li Clan, when the song came to an end and the couples all parted. She was about to start dancing with Heero again as a new song came on, but another girl walked between them.

"May I have this dance, Li Xiao Long?" asked Jiang Qing.

"I would prefer not to," answered Heero seriously.

"But you must," Jiang Qing insisted. "It is Li Clan honor that you must uphold such an innocent request from a female." Heero didn't have a response to that. He had given his word that he would follow the correct traditions of being a Li Clan member, and from what he had learned so far, Jiang Qing's point seemed as if it was most likely a valid one.

"Actually he doesn't," stated Syaoran as he walked up to his cousin and the daughter of the Elder he liked the least. "Because we have been officially challenged by your brothers, this would no longer be considered a harmless request."

"You were challenged by my brothers?" Jiang Qing asked in surprise.

"You didn't know?" asked Meilin who, along with everyone else had also come to join the conversation.

"No. When is the fight?"

"Tomorrow at noon," answered Syaoran. "They challenged Xiao Long and myself to a fight for our title as leaders of the Clan."

"Probably because your father knows he doesn't have a chance at getting you together with either Xiao Lang or Xiao Long," stated Meilin coldly. She really didn't like Jiang Qing because of how she always seemed to be plotting ways to get Syaoran for herself. "Both Sakura-chan and Mizuno-san have been accepted by the Elders, and you have nothing to compare to them."

Jiang Qing stared cruelly at Meilin in response to her insult. "Very well then," she finally said. "I will see you at the fight tomorrow then." With that said, Jiang Qing turned on her heels and left.

"I really hate her," stated Meilin as she watched Jiang Qing walk away.

"Don't worry about her," said Eriol. "After his sons loose the fight tomorrow, Dong Zhou will have no power left to attempt to wed his daughter to either of my dear descendents." Eriol's nickname for Heero and Syaoran was not appreciated, and instead of the customary single death stare being sent his way, he received a pair of them. Everyone else laughed as Eriol cringed slightly at the two pairs of eyes staring coldly at him. Ukyo then pulled Eriol away, for his own safety, to dance again, and Sakura and Ami did the same with Heero and Syaoran. The rest of the night was spent dancing, talking, and having fun. Eventually the night did end, and everyone went to their rooms to get a good nights sleep so they would be rested for the big day they had ahead of them tomorrow.

Author's Notes:

I'm sorry it took me so long to finish this latest addition to chapter 10, but things have been really hectic with school and I haven't had much time to write. I must warn you now that Part V will probably take me just as long, if not longer, to write as this part did since I still have lots of school stuff coming up so I won't have too much time to write. I hope you all do enjoy this latest update however, and wanted to say thanks again for reading and reviewing my story.


	32. Sakura's Vacation in Hong Kong Part V

Hong Kong, China Next Day

"Do you understand and accept the terms and conditions of this official challenge."

"Hai, Master Qian Louh," answered all four fighters simultaneously.

"Then let the fight begin."

It was noon on the day following the banquet honoring the introduction of Li Xiao Long to the rest of the Li Clan. All five Elders, along with Yelan, Heero, Syaoran, Sakura, Ami, and the others and the three children of Dong Zhou, were standing around the large circle that was the outdoor training ring in the sand of the beach behind the Li Clan Estate. A number of other Li Clan members who had heard about the fight were also present to witness the rare event. Heero and Syaoran were each dressed in their Li Clan ceremonial fighting outfits. Syaoran was wearing his usual green, trimmed in yellow, outfit with white pants and black shoes, and Heero was wearing his new white, trimmed in red, outfit with a pair of black pants and white shoes. Opposite from Heero and Syaoran were Dong Zhou's two sons; Meng Ping and Meng Guo. Each one was dressed in a similar outfit to Heero and Syaoran, but with a few differences. The styles were slightly altered, since Heero and Syaoran were part of a different immediate family, and the colors were different. Instead of the loose fitting robes that Syaoran and Heero were wearing, Meng Ping and Meng Guo had outfits that were tighter against their bodies. The pants were the same, but the tops of the uniforms were sleeveless and not quite as long as Heero's or Syaoran's. Both Meng Ping and Meng Guo's fighting outfits were black in color, with yellow designs on the front and back. Standing next to each other in the exact same outfit, the brothers looked very much alike. Outside the circle, behind her two brothers stood Li Jiang Qing. She was dressed in an extremely short skirt and a low cut top that was made of a thin, silky material. Jiang Qing had a very nice body, and it appeared she had chosen her outfit to accentuate each one of its curves. The majority of the random Li Clan members who were witnessing the fight were also standing behind Meng Ping and Meng Guo since Heero and Syaoran's side of the ring was already pretty much filled. Outside the circle on Heero and Syaoran's side, stood Sakura, Ami, Tomoyo, Ranma, Duo, Minako, Eriol, Ukyo, Meilin, Wu-Fei, and Yelan. Everyone except for Ami and Sakura seemed to have calm looks on their faces, for they knew how skilled both Heero and Syaoran were at fighting and so they weren't worried about them too much. Sakura and Ami on the other hand were quite worried. They both had faith in their boyfriends' fighting abilities, but they cared for them even deeper than they knew, and so they couldn't shake the feelings of worry no matter how hard they tried.

"_Be careful, Heero-kun,"_ Sakura told her boyfriend via their telepathic link.

"_Always,"_ he replied as he turned his head slightly to give Sakura a reassuring smile. Sakura smiled back weakly as she tried to hide the look of worry on her face, although she failed miserably. Heero knew that Sakura was worried about him, just as Ami was worried about Syaoran, but the two of them had to concentrate on the fight in front of them for the time being. Syaoran and Heero looked at each other and nodded their heads, indicating to one another they were ready to proceed. Syaoran then closed his eyes momentarily and concentrated his magical power to release his sword from its confines. As Syaoran was releasing his sword, Heero did the same. "Key that Hides the Power of Space. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Heero Command You Under Contract. Release!"

At the same moment, both Heero's and Syaoran's pendants began to glow, and in a flash of light both items each transformed into a mystical sword and Heero and Syaoran each got into a fighting stance in preparation for the first wave of attacks from their opponents. Syaoran and Heero had discussed with each other earlier that morning, their strategy for winning this fight. Syaoran had informed Heero that it would serve them best if they could find a way to defeat their opponents while expending as little effort as possible. That way it would be clear who was dominant, and would leave no room for future challenges to arise. This meant that if they could manage it, they should refrain from using their magic in the fight, even if Dong Zhou's sons began to rely heavily on their own magical skills. They had also decided to take a defensive stance at first and wait to see how the two challengers would choose to attack. Since Heero and Syaoran had never fought with each other before, they were at a slight disadvantage when attacking together. They knew each other's fighting styles and mentalities well enough to get by, but thought it was best to coordinate their plans based on how the two brothers intended to fight the match.

While Syaoran and Heero did not have the need to bring any weapons to the match, since they both possessed magical weapons of their own, Meng Ping and Meng Guo each brought an entire arsenal of different weapons. They had swords, nunchakus, staffs, spears, and a countless number of other weapons. They both knew Syaoran possessed a magical sword, but had been surprised to find out that Heero had one as well. They had brought so many different weapons because they knew it was likely that their own weapons would break during the fight since the weapon of their opponent was magically protected. Before the fight, Meng Ping and Meng Guo had decided to try and gain the upper-hand early by using only their martial arts skills. They didn't know anything about Heero's magical powers, but they knew that Syaoran was in a completely different class altogether. If they relied on magic in the fight, Syaoran would surely be able to defeat them. Therefore, their strategy was to try to gain some leverage in the martial arts part of the fight, and force their opponents to use magic to defeat them. If they did that at the very least, then they wouldn't be seen as completely unfit to lead the Clan. They chose to fight the cousins in two one-on-one fights to begin the match. Meng Ping was going to attack Heero, and Meng Guo would try and handle Syaoran. They both knew Syaoran was probably the best martial artist in the Clan, but they didn't know how well Heero could fight. Since neither Meng Ping or Meng Guo would be able to defeat Syaoran in a one-on-one fight, they decided to at least have Meng Ping, who was a better fighter than Meng Guo, fight Heero in an attempt to win half of the match.

Meng Ping grabbed a pair of Chinese broad swords from his stash of weapons, swinging them in tight circles next to his body in an attempt to warm up his muscles and get a feel for his weapons. His brother opted for two Japanese kodachis. Even though the Li Clan was a Chinese Clan, they were well trained in the weapons of other cultures, as well as the traditional Chinese ones. The reason Meng Guo choose the kodachis was simple. He knew he was outclasses by Syaoran in terms of martial arts skills, so he opted for the pair of Japanese short swords in an attempt to increase his defensive capabilities, allowing his brother a little extra time to fight Heero one-on-one. Once they had their weapons picked, the two brothers mimicked Syaoran and Heero and got into fighting stances of their own. The four fighters stood completely still for a number of minutes, sizing each other up; trying to determine if there was any nervousness in their opponents, thus giving them a slight advantage. When it became abundantly clear that Syaoran and Heero were not going to strike first, the two brothers made eye contact out of the corner of their eyes and simultaneously let out a loud battle cry and attacked their opponents.

Seeing their opponents finally charging at them, Syaoran and Heero each lowered their defensive stances a fraction to ready themselves for the incoming blows. The first to strike was Meng Guo. He slashed downward with one of his short swords and across with the other. The attack was well timed, and perfectly executed, but Syaoran's reaction time was lightning fast. The moment Syaoran saw the two simultaneous strikes directed his way, he side stepped from the downward thrust, and maneuvered his sword to block the cross strike. The two swords clanged together loudly as the first blows of the match were underway. As soon as his sword made contact with the kodachi of his opponent, Syaoran took the opportunity to strike back. The downward strike by Meng Guo had left him unprotected from a quick blow, so Syaoran shifted his weight, and delivered a quick strike directly to the throat of his opponent with his free hand. The strike caused Meng Guo to take a couple steps backward as he fought to regain his breath. Having not fought Syaoran for a number of years, Meng Guo was a little surprised at how much faster and stronger the teenager had become. When Syaoran had left Hong Kong, he was already the best, and now that he was back, it was clear that he had become even better.

A few feet away from Meng Guo and Syaoran, Meng Ping was busily attacking Heero. Meng Ping had chosen to attack with a flurry of two sword attacks. His quick arm movements were causing his two swords to rotate in a spiraling frenzy of blades aimed at his opponent. Heero saw the attack style and knew that if it was executed flawlessly, that there would be no way to block the attack with only one sword. To account for this, Heero had to take steps backwards to keep from being cut by the gleaming blades. When Meng Ping saw Heero stepping backwards, he made his first mistake of the match; he believed Heero was a weak fighter and that he had the upper-hand. While he didn't stop his assault with his pair of swords, Meng Ping stopped paying as close attention, and the moves were beginning to get just the slightest bit sloppy. This was the opportunity Heero had been waiting for, and as soon as he saw an opening, he struck. Meng Ping's two blades fell just the slightest bit out of rhythm with each other, and allowed Heero just enough time to make his move. Heero stopped backtracking and thrust forward with his sword, making contact with one of the two blades swinging in front of him. This caused the one sword to stop the attack, but the other was still headed in a downward motion, aimed directly at Heero. If Meng Ping had been executing his attack with flawless precision, then Heero would not have had time to dodge the second blade. However, since Meng Ping's rhythm was just a bit off, it allowed Heero just enough time to dodge the falling blade by doing a spin on his planted left foot, causing his head to almost hit the ground, and his right leg to fly up in the air. This was not unintentional, as Heero's right foot landed squarely on the jaw of Meng Ping with so much power, that it literally lifted Meng Ping off his feet and sent him falling onto the ground, flat on his back. After delivering his kick, Heero did a back flip and landed at Syaoran's side, as the two cousins stood back to back at a slight angle in defensive postures and awaited the next round of attacks.

Meng Ping slowly stood up from the ground after Heero's kick, and was joined by his brother to discuss their new battle plan. "Xiao Lang is even better than he was before he left," said Meng Guo to his brother as he rubbed his neck to try to remove the last bit of soreness he felt.

"So is this new guy, Xiao Long," responded Meng Ping. "His fighting style is like nothing I have ever seen before, but he is fast, and he is strong."

"What do we do, brother?"

"We have no chance to defeat them using only martial arts. We have to use our magic, and try to defeat them in a coordinated fight."

"Do we use elemental magic?" Meng Guo asked his older brother.

"No. Our elemental magic is nothing compared to Xiao Lang's. We have to use the spells to increase out fighting capabilities."

Meng Guo nodded at his brother and then left to get a different weapon for each of them. Since both brothers had been training together since they were young, they knew how to fight together as a team. Meng Guo came back with a spear for each of them. The first weapon they had been trained to use, and the one they were most comfortable with, was the staff. The spear was merely a more dangerous version of a staff. Once he was back, Meng Guo handed one of the spears to his brother and then both Meng Ping and Meng Guo closed their eyes and concentrated their magical energy. They had a good amount of power compared to many people of the Li Clan, but it was nothing compared to Heero and Syaoran. However, they had learned a few spells that would increase their strength, stamina, speed, and fighting abilities and that was what they were using now.

Syaoran noticed Meng Ping and Meng Guo channeling their energy and could easily guess what type of magic they were using. "Yuy," said Syaoran. "I'm sure you can feel Meng Ping and Meng Guo channeling their magical energies. I wanted to warn you that they are using spells to increase their fighting capabilities."

"In what way?" Heero asked as he concentrated his own magical energies in an attempt to determine how powerful the two brothers were.

"They will probably increase their strength, speed, flexibility, and stamina. Be on guard."

Heero nodded to his cousin as he continued to watch as both Meng Ping and Meng Guo begin to have a faint red glow surrounding them. As soon as the two brothers opened their eyes again, they both charged in unison. Their first attack was a thrust which Heero and Syaoran managed to sidestep, followed immediately by a sweeping of the staff horizontal to the ground. Meng Ping and Meng Guo had made sure to thrust slightly towards the outside half of the bodies of both Syaoran and Heero, causing them to sidestep towards each other to dodge the blow. This meant that Syaoran and Heero were now both between the two sweeping staffs, not allowing them enough room to simply jump or step out of the way of the strikes. Without any other options available to them, both Heero and Syaoran blocked the incoming staffs with their swords. However, because of the increased strength of the two brothers, Syaoran and Heero were knocked backwards slightly until they bumped into each other and were standing back to back with the two staffs pushing at them from each side. The added power of the two brothers was too much for Heero and Syaoran to simply push away, so when Meng Ping and Meng Guo each came with a kick to the sides of Heero and Syaoran, there was no way for them to block the blows. Syaoran and Heero were each hit simultaneously on the side by the kicks from Meng Ping and Meng Guo, causing them to take a few steps backwards to keep their balance. With the extended reach of the spears, Meng Ping and Meng Guo again thrust at Heero and Syaoran. To make sure they didn't get caught in the same attack as last time, both Syaoran and Heero did two back flips to gain a little distance between themselves and the attacking brothers. Seeing their opponents backing up, Meng Ping and Meng Guo took two steps towards them and planted the heads of their spears in the ground and used them as leverage to do a flying sidekick at Heero and Syaoran. This attack move however, did have one weak point. The only force keeping the two attackers balanced was the spears that were wedged into the ground. Heero saw this and exploited it to its full extent. In a move that was even faster than Meng Ping and Meng Guo with their enhanced abilities, Heero did a sweeping kick that shattered the bases of both spears that were planted in the ground, causing the two brothers to loose their balance and form in their kicks. Syaoran took this opportunity and with all his might did a back flip, allowing each foot to solidly connect with one of the heads of his flying opponents. If it wasn't for their increased stamina, both Meng Ping and Meng Guo would have definitely been knocked unconscious by the attack from Syaoran, but since they had increased abilities, they were only stunned for a short period of time. It was long enough for Heero and Syaoran to regroup and decide how to proceed in the battle.

"This is a pointless fight," stated Heero to his cousin. "Even with enhanced abilities they stand no chance against us."

"You're right," agreed Syaoran. "Let's finish this quick."

"I have a plan that will definitely finish this fight quickly, and will make it clear that they are no match for us," said Heero as he pulled out two Clow Cards. "Plus I get to try the spell your mother has been teaching me." Syaoran looked at the two Clow Cards Heero had pulled out, remembered what spell his mother had taught Heero in the past few days, and quickly ascertained what Heero's plan was going to be. Syaoran nodded to Heero, indicating that he knew what Heero was thinking and that he was ready for Heero to proceed.

"Grant both myself and Li the power of flight," chanted Heero as he threw one of the Clow Cards into the air. "Wing!" As Heero struck the Wing Card with his sword, it released a bright light and a pair of glowing white wings appeared on both Heero and Syaoran. With their new ability, both Syaoran and Heero took to the air and settled in a hover about thirty feet above where Meng Ping and Meng Guo were standing. "Replicate!" shouted Heero as he released his second Clow Card. The Replicate Card released from its confines and proceeded to make two copies of each Heero and Syaoran. Now, hovering in the air, were a total of six fighter; three Heeros and three Syaorans.

"It's time to end this," said all three Syaorans in unison.

"God of Wind, Come Forth!" chanted both Heero and Syaoran together. Yelan had taught Heero how to call on the element of wind a few days ago as the beginning of his training as a member of her family. Heero had not had much chance to try out the new ability to much, so he hoped he could keep pace with Syaoran so he wouldn't embarrass himself. A gust of wind sprang out from all three Heeros and all three Syaorans and came together to create a large tornado of wind energy that spiraled downwards directly on top of Meng Ping and Meng Guo. The two brothers never had a chance to get out of the way of the spiraling wind force, leaving them only the option of trying to redirect the attacks with elemental attacks of their own. Both Meng Ping and Meng Guo let loose their own wind attacks, but because of their much lower power levels, their attacks were effortlessly brushed aside and the two brothers were hit straight on by the squall created by Heero and Syaoran. The initial blow did not cause either of them to loose consciousness, but the tornado was sucking all the oxygen out of the area, and the two brothers found themselves unable to breathe. Syaoran and Heero both knew the brothers couldn't breathe and were just waiting for them to motion that they concede before stopping their wind attack. This came moments later, when Meng Ping and Meng Guo decided there was no way out of the wind attack, so their only choices were to either concede or wait to black out from lack of air. After looking at each other, both brothers raised one hand in defeat, and then fell to the ground gasping for air when Heero and Syaoran stopped their wind attack. Both Syaoran and Heero flew down to the ground in front of the Elders and Heero recalled the Wing and Replicate Cards and both Heero and Syaoran returned their swords to their pendant forms and replaced them around their necks. Afterwards they both bowed to the Elders and turned and bowed respectfully to their opponents. Without a word, both Heero and Syaoran walked over to their friends and family and were greeted by tight hugs from Sakura and Ami. Both girls were overwhelmingly relieved that the fight was finished, and ecstatic that their boyfriends had won.

The gang spent of the rest of their time in Hong Kong the way it was meant to be spent; on vacation. Meilin was forced to tell Syaoran about herself and Wu-Fei when Syaoran accidentally walked in on the two of them kissing in the practice dojo. Syaoran was happy for his cousin, but didn't understand why Meilin didn't just tell him about herself and Wu-Fei earlier, but Meilin didn't have any problems with not explaining herself to Syaoran, and instead just left him to wonder. They all made trips into the city of Hong Kong to do shopping and sightseeing, which was much enjoyed by everybody. Heero had to do a little bit of training and talking with Yelan and the Elders, but most of the time they allowed him to do what he pleased, which was usually spend time with Sakura. Heero had also learned that Dong Zhou was spending a lot of time in isolation as he tried to get over the humiliation and disgrace he received from the battle between Heero and Syaoran and his two sons. There were no other challenges or disturbances at the Estate for the remainder of the vacation, causing time to fly by since everyone was having so much fun. Before they knew it, Heero, Sakura, Syaoran, Ami, Tomoyo, Ranma, Eriol, Ukyo, Duo, and Minako were all saying goodbye to Meilin, Wu-Fei, and Yelan at the gate to their private jet that was to take them back to Tokyo.

"It was an honor meeting you," said Ami to Yelan with a bow.

"As was meeting you, child," answered Yelan sweetly as she cupped Ami's chin with her hand and placed a gently kiss on the girl's cheek. "Make sure and take good care of my son."

Ami could only blush and nod to the kind woman as Syaoran said goodbye to his mother before gently taking Ami into his arms from behind.

"It was great seeing you again, Li-sama," said Sakura to Yelan from her place in Heero's arms.

"It's always a pleasure to see you, Ying Fa," answered Yelan. "You are welcome back anytime." Yelan then tilted her head up to look at Heero. "As are you, Xiao Long. You are a member of the Clan now. Don't ever forget that."

"Never, Li-sama," answered Heero. "And I thank you for informing me about my past. I am forever grateful and will make sure to uphold the traditions of the Li Clan."

"You have grown into a good man, my nephew. Your parents would be proud."

The gang all finished up their goodbyes, with all the girls joining in a big group hug with Meilin as they sadly parted again. "I'll come visit you guys in Tokyo sometime!" shouted Meilin as everyone was walking through the gateway to the plane.

"We'll be looking forward to it!" came Sakura's voice as they all turned the corner and were out of sight. Meilin, Wu-Fei, and Yelan watched as the plane took off on its journey back to Tokyo, and Yelan silently prayed that they would all be able to handle the problems that she had foreseen being sent their way. In her meditations, she had seen many paths all converging at the same point. A number of those paths had been paths of evil, and she knew that her son and nephew, and all their friends were going to be in for the fight of a lifetime.

Somewhere in the Spiritual Realm

"Do we have an agreement?"

"If you release me, I will make sure to finish off those in question."

"Very well then." Had it been possible for anyone to physically be present in the spiritual realm, they would have seen the red and orange energy chains binding a lone figure start to glow momentarily before shattering into nothingness.

"Free at last!" shouted the newly freed figure. He bellowed a mighty roar before unfolding a large pair of jet black wings from around his muscular dark brown body. Momentarily closing a pair of eyes which burned with the flames of hatred in dark red pupils, the giant figure called forth his own magical powers and summoned his weapon of choice; a massive double sided hammer with a long, sharp spike attached on the end. "Li Xiao Lang, Li Xiao Long. Prepare to meet the wrath of Charon." A devious and malicious smile crossed the blood stained lips of the mighty demon as he called forth more power to transport himself back to the physical plane in order to destroy his newly acquired enemies.

Author's Notes:

That's the end of Chapter 10. Everyone's finally on their way back to Japan, but it looks like there are going to be new problems for our heroes. Who could have let loose the evil demon Charon? And why would they want to destroy Heero and Syaoran? It's pretty obvious I guess, but you'll have to keep reading to find out if you're right. I'll try to update soon so please be patient. Bye!


	33. Sakura and the Freezing Fairgrounds Part...

Chapter 11: Sakura and the Freezing Fairgrounds

Tokyo, Japan

"Are you sure you felt the Clow Card around here, Heero-kun?" asked Sakura nervously as she held tightly onto Heero's arm.

"It's here somewhere," answered Heero as he cautiously turned his head from side to side, watching for any sign of movement. "Is there something wrong?"

"Sakura-chan is scared of dark places where ghosts might be hiding," answered Tomoyo. As she spoke, a creak in the wood made Sakura grasp tighter to Heero and yelp in fear to emphasize Tomoyo's point.

"You would think Sakura would have gotten over her fear of ghosts a long time ago," said Syaoran with a smile. "But she wouldn't be Sakura otherwise." Tomoyo giggled at Syaoran's joke, but Sakura was still too busy being scared to notice what the others were doing.

"_Can't we come back later and capture the Card, Heero-kun?"_

Heero turned his head and smiled at the trembling Sakura. _"You know as well as I do that this must be done. But I promise you that nothing will harm you."_

Heero, Sakura, Syaoran, and Ami had been studying together in their dorm room when they felt the presence of a Clow Card nearby. It was the first time that they had felt a Clow Card while they were at their dorm, so Tomoyo took the opportunity to make the two Card Captors change into the costumes she had made. Heero was wearing the same ceremonial fighting outfit that Tomoyo had given him back in Hong Kong, but Tomoyo had said she had something brand new for Sakura to wear. Sakura, surprisingly to herself, had been a little sad when Tomoyo had told her that this costume would be the last one she would be making for her. Sakura had always been embarrassed at wearing all of Tomoyo's eccentric designs whenever she had to go fight Clow Cards, but she had found herself feeling sad that this would be the last battle costume design she would ever wear. Sakura had been surprised at the costume Tomoyo was carrying, when she had returned with the costume in hand. Sakura had been expecting some type of eccentric work of art, but what Tomoyo had handed her was actually fairly simple in design. The outfit looked like it was a female version of the outfit Tomoyo had made for Heero. Similar to Heero's costume, it had a white, trimmed in red, top, but with a short black skirt with slits on each side instead of the black pants. Just like Heero's, Sakura's outfit had a black circle with a red dragon inside design on the front. The only pattern difference was that on the loose flaps of the arms of the outfit there were a number of pink cherry blossom decorating the edges. Tomoyo had told Sakura that she purposely made the outfit match with Heero's, which made Sakura happy in a way that she couldn't quite explain.

At present, Heero, Sakura, Syaoran, Ami, Tomoyo, and Ranma were all in the basement of one of the old dorm buildings that was scheduled for demolition. The building had apparently not been used for many years, for there was a lot of structural damage as well as a thick layer of dust and cobwebs around the entire place. The basement was even worse than the rest of the building. It was very dark, since the electrical wiring of the building had been damaged, and the entire place looked to be falling apart. Each step the group took caused a creak in the floorboards, and every couple feet, Heero had to brush a cobweb out of the way of their path.

As the gang entered the last room of the basement, the door behind them suddenly slammed shut. "Hoooooeeeee!" shrieked Sakura in fear as she grabbed very tightly onto Heero. Heero, Syaoran, and Ami all felt the Clow Card's magical presence become a little stronger, and in an instant, a glowing figure of a wrinkly old man floated up through the ground and hovered in front of the group. "It's a ghost!" screamed Sakura as she hid her head in the folds of Heero's robe.

Sakura was trembling uncontrollably with fear as Heero took her in his arms, so Heero did the only thing he could think of. Heero allowed his aura to manifest itself and he caringly wrapped it around Sakura's shivering form, giving her a sense of safety as she felt the familiar aura protecting her. _"Don't be scared, Sakura-san. Nothing will harm you."_

Meanwhile, Syaoran looked over and saw that Sakura was way too frightened to fight the Clow Card, and Heero seemed preoccupied with trying to calm Sakura down, so he turned to face the glowing being in front of him. "God of Lightning, Come Forth!" Syaoran's spell caused a bright bolt of lightning to emerge from out of nowhere and struck the Clow Card directly in the center of its mass. The Card let out a eerie howl of pain, but didn't retaliate, instead it merely fell to the ground and laid there motionless.

Heero had seen the interaction between Syaoran and the Clow Card, and quietly apologized to Sakura for leaving her, and then walked over to the Clow Card. "I Heero, Master of the Cards Command You. Return to Your True Form. Clow Card!" The comatose figure lying on the ground quickly changed into card form, and the resulting card floated over to Syaoran, who picked it out of the air and looked at it before giving it to Heero. "That sure was easy," commented Heero to his cousin as he took the Clow Card Syaoran was handing to him. "The Ghost Card."

"Well, Glow is one of the least powerful cards," said Syaoran. "And this Ghost Card seems to be made from Glow, so I guess it isn't very strong either."

"Sakura-chan," whispered Ami quietly as she bent over the cute girl who was holding her knees to her chest and hiding her head as she sat on the ground. "It's over. The Clow Card was captured. We can go now."

Sakura looked up to see Ami, Tomoyo, and Ranma standing over her with worried looks on their faces. "Come on, Kinomoto-san," said Ranma kindly as he held out his hand to help Sakura up from the floor. "I'm sure you want to get out of here as soon as possible."

"Thanks," said Sakura as she smiled at everyone and took Ranma's hand and stood up.

All six left the dark basement and went back to their dorm. When they arrived at their rooms, they noticed that it had gotten late and they all said goodnight and went to get ready to go to sleep.

Sakura laid in bed hugging her arms across her chest as she stared up at the ceiling. She was having trouble falling asleep since every time she closed her eyes, the image of the Ghost Card kept filling her mind. The only thing that kept her from screaming out in fear was that she could still feel the lingering effects of when Heero protectively wrapped his aura around her. After tossing and turning in constant unsuccessful attempts to fall into a peaceful slumber, Sakura finally decided it was not going to happen. She got out from under her warm pink covers and in her yellow silk pajamas, quietly exited her room. She started towards Tomoyo's room, but once she was about halfway there a new thought crossed her mind. She knew somewhere in her mind that even if she went into Tomoyo's room to get comfort from her best friend, the haunting feeling would still be with her. So instead of going to the door a few feet away, Sakura turned around and went to the door leading into the hall. She silently walked into the hall and carefully opened the door to the guys' suite. She peaked her head inside the room and was relieved to see nobody was up. After closing the door, the tiptoed over to Heero's bedroom and as quietly as she could, she opened the door and crept inside.

"_I know you're there, Sakura-san,"_ Sakura heard inside her mind as soon as the door was shut. She was so surprised from Heero's telepathic comment that a soft yelp escaped from her mouth before she slapped her hands over it to stop from making any more noise.

"_How did you know?"_

"_I felt your magic as soon as you entered our suite,"_ Heero answered as he sat up in bed, showing his uncovered chest, and finally opened his eyes. The few rays of moonlight that managed to make it in through the small window in Heero's room reflected off of his deep cobalt blue eyes, giving him an even more mysterious look that he normally possessed. _"Is something wrong?"_

"_I can't sleep,"_ Sakura answered as she wrapped her arms around her body to try to keep warm. _"Every time I close my eyes, I keep imagining the Ghost Card, and it scares me. I was wondering…"_ Sakura paused for a long while, leaving Heero a little confused at what to do. He hadn't been expecting Sakura to come into his room unannounced so late at night, and didn't know what she could want. _"I was wondering if I could sleep with you tonight."_ Heero was a little taken aback at Sakura's request. It wasn't that he didn't want to have the auburn haired angel snuggling up against him, it was just unexpected. _"Please, Heero-kun? I always feel safe in your arms when I can feel your energy protecting me."_

Heero smiled and nodded as he pulled the covers away to allow Sakura to get in. _"Of course, Sakura-san. I promised I would keep you safe, and I intend to always keep that promise."_ Sakura smiled back and quickly, but quietly, made her way to Heero's bed and slipped underneath the covers and into the warm embrace of her boyfriend. "Sakura-san," whispered Heero in Sakura's ear.

"Hai?" questioned Sakura as she turned around to face Heero.

"Can you please refrain from telling Duo that you are sleeping here," Heero said. Sakura gave Heero a confused look, leaving her eyes to ask why he would ask such a thing. "If he found out, I would never hear the end of it."

Sakura giggled as she leaned forward to place a gentle kiss on Heero's lips. "Hai, Heero-kun." Heero smiled back at Sakura and pulled her closer to his body, inhaling the intoxicating scent of cherry blossoms that emitted from the beautiful girl. Sakura rested her head on Heero's bare chest, and using one of her fingers, gently traced along the toned muscles of his chest and stomach. "Thank you, Heero-kun," Sakura whispered as she finally was able to close her eyes without seeing the Ghost Card in her mind.

"Sleep well, my beautiful Cherry Blossom," Heero whispered almost inaudibly as he took one last look at the lovely girl he held in his arms, before closing his eyes and falling into an unusually peaceful sleep with an uncharacteristic smile on his face.

Author's Notes:

Sorry it took so long to get this latest update up. I have been real busy with school, plus I've had a bit of writer's block to go with it. I've got ideas for the rest of the chapter in my head, but it has been difficult getting it all out on paper. Please be patient with me as I try to update as soon as I can. Hopefully, I will have at least two more sections up in the next couple weeks.


	34. Sakura and the Freezing Fairgrounds Part...

Tokyo, Japan Next Day

"Have you seen Sakura-chan?" Tomoyo asked Ami as she walked out of Sakura's empty room.

"Not since last night," answered Ami looking up from her book and half-eaten bowl of cereal. "She's not in her room?"

Tomoyo shook her head. "No. I wonder where she could be."

"Maybe she is with Yuy-kun," suggested Minako as she got up to bring her empty bowl to the sink. "We are all going to that fair later, so why don't we go to the guys' place in a few minutes and ask if they know where she is."

"Where who is?" asked Ukyo as she walked out of the bathroom wearing her robe and drying her hair with a towel.

"We're looking for Sakura-chan," answered Ami while closing her book and proceeding to finish eating her breakfast.

"You're sure she isn't still sleeping?" Ukyo asked. "I've noticed she likes to sleep in late when she gets the chance."

"I've already looked in her room," replied Tomoyo. "She's not there."

"In that case, then I think Minako's plan of asking the guys is probably the best solution."

"Just give me and Ukyo a few minutes to get dressed and then we'll go," Minako called out over her shoulder as she walked into her room to change out of her yellow silk robe and into her day's outfit.

Once they were all ready, the four girls walked the short distance down the hall to the guys' rooms. "Good morning," greeted Minako as she opened the door.

"Good morning, Aino-san," answered Eriol who happened to be closest to the door when the girls came knocking.

"Not that we mind," added Ranma. "But what are you girls doing here so soon? The fair isn't for a few more hours."

"We are looking for Sakura-chan," replied Tomoyo. "She isn't in her room so we thought she might be with Yuy-kun."

"I don't think he's up yet," answered Syaoran. All four girls looked at Syaoran in disbelief since they all knew that Heero was always up unnaturally early in the morning. "It surprised me too. Usually when I get up in the morning he's already up and we would go train, but this time when I woke up he was nowhere to be found."

"Maybe the two of them both got up extra early and went somewhere together," suggested Ami. "Have you guys checked Heero's room to see if he's in there?"

The guys all looked at one another to find out if anyone had indeed checked Heero's room. When they realized that nobody had, since he was closest to the door, Duo got up to take a look. He slowly opened the door a crack and peeked inside, but what he found, was a sight he never would have expected. Quietly closing the door, Duo turned around to face the others in the room. "I found Sakura-san," Duo said quietly. From the look on Duo's face and the way he spoke, everyone could easily guess what he was talking about, although they found it a little hard to believe. With wide eyes, all eight teens again opened Heero's bedroom door and silently peeked inside. What they saw was Heero sleeping on his back on his bed, with his blankets up to his stomach, with Sakura sleeping soundly with her head on his bare chest. One of Sakura's hands was laying gently on Heero's well toned abs, and the other was resting on the pillow next to Heero's head. Heero's arms were wrapped protectively around the back of the angel sleeping with him, and both Heero and Sakura had slight genuine smiles on their unmoving faces.

"Should we wake them up?" whispered Ranma.

"Not yet!" hissed back Tomoyo as she quietly ran out the door back toward the girl's suite. All the others looked on in confusion at Tomoyo's retreating back. A moment later, she returned through the door and everyone sighed at the sight, since they should have know what Tomoyo was going to do. With video camera now in hand, Tomoyo took her place at the entrance to Heero's room, and started recording the sweet scene before her.

"Now should we wake them?" Ranma asked Tomoyo once again.

"But they look so cute together," she squealed. "How often am I going to get a chance to video tape cute Sakura-chan and Heero-kun sleeping together?"

"Heero's already awake," stated Duo as he looked at his comrade. Heero's eyes were still closed, but Duo knew him well enough to tell that he was fully conscious. At that moment, Sakura too began to stir, showing signs of waking up.

"Come on you guys," said Ami as she stood in front of everyone and turned her back to Heero and Sakura. "Let's give them their privacy." Ami then proceeded to usher everyone out the door, closing it behind her, but not before turning back to give a smile to Heero, who had now opened his eyes. Heero nodded to her in thanks for ridding them of the excess company.

"Sakura," whispered Heero in Sakura's ear as he gently ran his fingers through her silky smooth auburn locks. "Sakura, it's time to get up."

"_But I am comfortable here,"_ said Sakura telepathically since she was too comfortable in Heero's arms to make her mouth move.

"The others are all waiting for us," Heero answered with a smile as he placed a gentle kiss on the top of Sakura's head.

"What do you mean?" Sakura mumbled while allowing her hand to roam over Heero's muscular chest.

"They all just came in a minute ago."

"What?" Sakura said, no fully awake. She sat up very quickly and opened her eyes to look at the now closed door.

Heero sat up as well, and rested his back against the headboard of his bed, and gently pulled the frantic Sakura to sit beside him, resting her head on his shoulder. "Ami-san made everyone leave when she saw you starting to wake up," Heero said to Sakura, who had closed her eyes again, while resting on Heero's shoulder. "But I think Daidouji-san had her camera with her when she was leaving, so she must have gotten us on video."

Sakura just sighed as she lifted her head off of Heero's shoulder, but scooted closer to the warmth provided by his body. "She has been like that ever since we first met, but she is my best friend and I've accepted that it gives her enjoyment to video tape me, so I don't mind anymore. I hope it doesn't bother you, Heero-kun."

"I've gotten used to it," said Heero. "Daidouji-san is a good person, and a good friend to you. I can handle the slight inconvenience of being followed with her video camera."

"Thank you, Heero-kun," Sakura said as she turned her head and pushed herself up to give her boyfriend a kiss for being so understanding. Sakura then stood up and started walking toward the door, when she suddenly stopped in her tracks. "Umm, Heero-kun. Is everyone still out there?"

Heero thought about Sakura's question for a quick second, and then shrugged. "Probably."

"I don't want to go out there by myself," Sakura whined.

"You could use the Time Card and then walk out while everyone is frozen," suggested Heero.

"I don't think it would work on Syaoran, Eriol, Ami, or Minako. They have more magic than the card, so most likely they won't be frozen."

"Could you have the Move Card go into your room and bring you back some clothes?" asked Heero.

Sakura thought for a moment, before answering. "Kero-chan said the Move Card can only carry small objects a very short distance. I'm not so sure it will be able to carry clothes."

Sakura walked back to Heero's bed and laid back down, resting her head in his lap. Neither one moved much, except for Heero slowly stroking his hand back and forth through her soft hair, for a few minutes until Heero got an idea. "What if we use that Remove Card to get you some clothes from your room?"

"But you haven't changed that one yet," said Sakura.

"That is a problem easily rectified," answered Heero as he took his pendant from his neck and stood up. "Key that Hides the Power of Space. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Heero Command You Under Contract. Release!" As Heero's sword released from inside his pendant, he pulled out the Remove Card. "Card Created by Clow. Discard Your Old Form and be Reborn, Under the Name Heero; Your New Master." The counterpart of the Move Card glowed white for a moment before changing from its present Clow Card state, into a Heero Card. "Remove!" When Heero released the Card, it changed into a number of ribbons of white energy and then reformed to create a small pink creature. Both Heero and Sakura were a little surprised at what emerged from the released Clow Card, since when they had captured the Remove Card they had never seen the actual physical form it took on. The Card looked much like a small pink rabbit, but with a pair of white wings attached to its back. As the two teens looked on in surprise, the Remove Card tilted its small head up and looked directly at Sakura before jumping high into the air and straight into Sakura's chest, forcing the cute Card Captor to catch it in her arms. Once cradled in Sakura's arms, the Card began to lick Sakura with its small tongue and snuggle into her neck.

"Haha," laughed Sakura from the tickling sensation provided by the small tongue of the Remove Card. "It's so cute!"

"It's not exactly what I was expecting," said Heero as he looked at his new Clow Card snuggling up against his girlfriend and smiled.

"Can you go into my room and bring me back some clothes?" Sakura asked the Remove Card with a smile. The Card looked back up at the Card Mistress and made a soft chirping sound before disappearing into thin air.

"It seems as if my Clow Card has taken a liking to you, Sakura-san," said Heero. "Not that I can blame it. It definitely has good taste."

Sakura had to smile at the sweetness of her boyfriend and got out of bed, walked over to Heero and gave him a long passionate kiss as he pulled her close to him. The couple separated when they heard the Remove Card make another chirp, informing its Master that it was back from getting Sakura some clothes from her room. Once it saw its opening, the Remove Card once again jumped up and into Sakura's chest, nuzzling against her soft and creamy skin again. Sakura grasped the small creature in her hands and brought it up to head level. "Thank you," she said sweetly as she lightly kissed the head of the small creature. The Remove Card chirped again and then licked Sakura's nose, before it changed into a ball of energy and then back into its Clow Card form. "Umm, Heero-kun? Where do I change?"

Heero just smiled back at Sakura before taking a step away from her and pulling out another Clow Card. "Create a barrier to give Sakura some privacy. Wall!" The Wall Card released from its confines, and created a barrier up to the ceiling, splitting the room into two halves.

"_Thanks, Heero-kun,"_ thought Sakura from one side of the wall as she started getting dressed in the clothes the Remove Card had brought her.

"_Just tell me when you are finished getting dressed,"_ answered back Heero as he too began to dress for the day. _"Then we'll go outside and see if we can find a way to avoid too much embarrassment from the rest of our friends."_

"_Hai,"_ answered Sakura as she sighed. She was not looking forward to explaining herself to everyone, especially Tomoyo who was likely to make a big fuss about the whole ordeal.

A few minutes later, Heero recalled the Wall Card and returned his sword to its pendant form. Now fully dressed, Heero and Sakura stood hand in hand in front of the closed door leading out into the common room of the guys' suite. "Ready, Sakura-san?"

"…Not really," answered Sakura quietly. "But I guess we have to leave eventually." Heero smiled and gave Sakura a quick kiss for good luck, and then the two teens opened the door and walked out to face the music.

"Good morning, Heero-kun, Sakura-chan," greeted Ami from her position of resting in Syaoran's arms while reading a book.

"Morning," added Syaoran.

"Slept in late Heero?" commented Duo over his shoulder as he continued playing a video game with Minako at his side. "That's a first."

"I hope you slept well," supplemented Minako sweetly.

"Morning you two," said Ukyo, Eriol, and Ranma in unison from the floor where they were playing cards.

"You two should eat some breakfast," said Tomoyo with a smile as she watched and laughed at Ranma's ineffective card playing abilities. "We were planning on going to the park for a while before going to the fair."

"H-hai," stuttered Sakura. She turned to face Heero, giving him a very confused look. _"I don't understand. They are acting as if nothing is out of the ordinary."_

Heero took a quick glance around the room until his eyes met Ami's. When she was sure she had Heero's attention, Ami nodded her head slightly and gave him a slight smile. Heero understood what Ami was implying, and gave her a nod in return and silently thanked her. _"Ami-san did this,"_ Heero said to Sakura through his mind. _"I think she somehow talked everyone into not making a big fuss out of it."_

Sakura turned to look at her blue haired friend, but found her looking back at her book. _"Are you sure, Heero-kun?"_

Heero just nodded his head. He had gotten to know Ami pretty well over these last few months and thought it was something she would do. Ami was one of the most considerate people Heero had ever come across and knew she would do anything she could to keep Sakura and himself from having to deal with the inevitable embarrassing position of explaining why they were sleeping together. "Shall we get some breakfast?"

Sakura was still a little shocked and confused, and only nodded her head as Heero led her into the kitchen and began fixing some food for the both of them before they left for the fair.

Author's Notes:

I know not much happened in this part of the chapter, but I felt like writing it anyway. I hope you like it, even though nothing really happens. I've started the next section, but I have also started working on a second story, so my updates may come a little slower than they have normally been. Keep a lookout for my second fic, which I will be posting as soon as the first chapter is finished. It's called Gangs of Tokyo, and while it doesn't follow any anime story line, it does feature the characters from Card Captor Sakura, Gundam Wing, and Sailor Moon.


	35. Sakura and the Freezing Fairgrounds Part...

Tokyo, Japan

"Having a good time?" Heero asked Sakura as they rested on a bench after walking through the numerous booths full of games and prizes.

"Hai!" Sakura answered with a smile.

"So what do you guys want to do now?" asked Duo.

"I hear they have an outdoor ice skating rink," mentioned Ami. "How about we go there?"

Everyone quickly agreed and stood up from the bench they were presently occupying. "Can you help me win one of those stuffed animals before we go, Heero-kun?" asked Sakura in her always cute and innocent voice.

"Do you guys want to wait a minute while I get Sakura-san a prize?" asked Heero. "Or should we meet you at the rink?"

"We'll wait," answered Tomoyo. "Knowing you, it won't take very long. Besides, I can't miss getting a happy Sakura-chan on camera."

"Shall we see what is at the booth that seems to have so many people trying to win?" asked Heero as he motioned toward the most crowded booth in the area.

"Hai," answered Sakura happily as she walked hand in hand with Heero toward the booth, with Tomoyo video taping, of course, as she walked behind the couple.

"Twelve!" Heero and Sakura heard the vendor shout as the latest contestant finished his round. "That's enough for one of the small stuffed animals." The contestant picked a small blue stuffed penguin for his girlfriend, who looked very impressed since the majority of the contestants were only getting sixes and sevens. "Who's next?" called out the game vendor. "Hit ten and win a prize! Shoot out fifteen targets for a larger prize, or do all twenty in under 30 seconds for one of the largest prizes at the entire fair!"

Heero walked up to the vendor and placed the required entrance fee down. The vendor gave Heero a small paintball gun with a clip of twenty balls. Heero did a quick inspection of the weapon to determine the amount of compensation he would have to deal with due to any calibration errors. He then held the gun straight out in front of himself and took aim at the first of the twenty, one-inch radius targets placed at the back end of the booth.

"You should start deciding which of those big toys you want," Duo quietly whispered in Sakura's ear before Heero even took a single shot.

Sakura was about to turn to face Duo when she saw Heero fire off all twenty balls in rapid succession. It took Heero less then ten seconds to empty the clip and place the spent gun on the table. "Which one did you want, Sakura-san?" Heero asked.

Sakura was surprised at Heero's expertise with the gun, but since she knew all about Heero's past, her surprise was nothing compared to everyone else. "Can I have that one please?" Sakura asked the game vendor as she pointed to a large yellow bear with white wings on its back. The game vendor was so completely shocked as he stared at the red paint splatters in the exact center of each and every target, that he didn't even hear Sakura's answer.

The vendor eventually came out of his trance and turned to face Heero and Sakura. "Congratulations. That was an impressive display. I'm sorry Miss, but which one did you say you wanted?" Sakura pointed to the yellow bear again and the vendor reached up and took the large stuffed animal off the shelf.

Heero and Sakura politely thanked the game vendor and then walked away with all their friends towards the ice rink. "It looks like Kero-chan," commented Tomoyo of the yellow bear that was half Sakura's size that she was holding tightly to her chest.

"Hai! That's why I picked it," answered Sakura with a smile.

When they reached the ice skating rink, everyone was already talking amongst themselves about how well each could skate. It wasn't until they were waiting in line to get skates that they realized Ranma had disappeared somewhere. They all scanned the area, but Tomoyo was the first to spot him. "I'll be right back," she said to the others as she ran off to the bench where Ranma was sitting, overlooking the skating rink. "What are you doing over here, Ranma-kun? Aren't you going to skate with the rest of us?"

"Ice skating isn't exactly my thing," answered Ranma.

"You don't know how to skate?" queried Tomoyo with a hint of surprise in her voice.

"I know how to skate," said Ranma. "But the last time I did was not such a pleasurable experience."

"Why not?"

"The last time I skated, it was in a fight."

"You had a fight on an ice skating rink?" questioned Tomoyo in partial disbelief as she sat down next to her boyfriend.

Ranma nodded his head. "It was against 'The Golden Pair of Figure Skating.' They incorporated their figure skating skills into a fighting style, and although I did win the fight, I paid the price for it. Let's just say I discovered just how hard ice really is."

"But you aren't going to be fighting this time," reasoned Tomoyo. "You will be skating with me and everyone else."

"I guess you're right," conceded Ranma.

"Come on," said Tomoyo with a smile as she stood up and pulled Ranma up with her. "It'll be fun." The couple walked back to join their friends, Tomoyo smiling happily, and Ranma feeling a bit better after Tomoyo's reassuring words.

When they first got onto the ice, all the guys, except for Duo, stood together near the side of the rink, watching Duo and the girls skating around. All of them were smiling and laughing as they did various spins and jumps, trying ever so slightly to impress the rest of their friends. Even Tomoyo had joined in the fun, leaving her video camera in Ranma's hands after bribing him with a kiss to videotape as much of Sakura as he could.

Sakura was quick to take note of Tomoyo's lack of video camera, and scanned the rink until she spotted Ranma, as she expected, pointing Tomoyo's video camera in her direction. _"Heero-kun,"_ sent Sakura to Heero via their telepathic link. _"Can you ask Ranma-kun to videotape Tomoyo-chan some, instead of me?"_

Heero glanced at his comrade, and sure enough, Ranma had Tomoyo's camera directed right at his girlfriend, obviously at Tomoyo's request. _"Of course."_ Heero skated smoothly over to where Ranma was standing. "Saotome," Heero stated. "Sakura-san asked me to ask you to videotape Daidouji-san instead of her." As soon as he finished speaking, Heero regretted the way he phrased his words. Since he had been videotaping Sakura the entire time, he should have noticed that Sakura had never come over to him to ask him anything. Luckily, however, Ranma hadn't been paying close attention to Heero's choice of words to pick up on the discrepancy.

"That's a good idea," answered Ranma as he shifted the focus of the camera onto the unsuspecting dark haired beauty with captivating amethyst eyes.

Seeing Ranma videotaping Tomoyo instead of Sakura, Heero skated back to his spot next to Eriol along the ice's edge. "So you and Sakura-san do have some type of telepathic connection, don't you?" Eriol whispered into Heero's ear.

"What are you talking about?" asked Heero, trying to pretend he had no idea what Eriol was talking about, although knowing he was busted.

"There's no point in trying to hide it," said Eriol with a smirk. "Saotome didn't notice, but I heard what you said. Sakura asked," he emphasized, "you to ask Saotome to video Tomoyo. Sakura never came over here." Heero didn't bother trying to play it off as if Eriol misheard, instead he just silently cursed to himself for making such a mistake. "It wasn't just this time either," continued Eriol. At this, Heero did look up with a confused expression on his face. "I've noticed that on a number of occasions, you and Sakura-san seemed to know exactly what the other was about to do, and that both of you seem to space out every once in a while because you seem to be concentrating on something. I've suspected it was a telepathy situation, but this latest incident simply confirmed my point."

"We just didn't think the rest of you necessarily needed to know," said Heero. Now that Heero thought about it, he was a little surprised nobody else noticed, especially Ami and Syaoran, who were both extremely observant people.

"May I ask when and how it happened?" questioned Eriol.

Heero answered Eriol by pulling out the Telepathy Clow Card. "We captured that one a while ago when the rest of you were on your Biology trip."

"But you haven't changed it," commented Eriol as he inspected the card.

"The Clow Card did it by itself, and then changed into a card on its own. We didn't even have to fight it. We assumed the effects would wear off eventually, but they never did."

"You two are certainly full of surprises," said Eriol with a laugh as he handed the Telepathy Card back and skated off to join the girls.

"You're telling me," said Heero to himself as he thought about the ways his life had chanced since meeting Sakura. Heero then followed Eriol out onto the ice to join the rest of his classmates.

"Thanks, Heero-kun," greeted Sakura with a kiss after skating over to meet Heero halfway.

"Anytime," Heero answered with a smile. "However, Hiiragizawa figured out that we can talk telepathically."

"He did?" asked Sakura with surprise as she looked over toward Clow Reed's reincarnation to find him grinning back at her. "How did he find out?"

"He's suspected for a while now apparently. Hiiragizawa said he noticed that we seem to know what each other is thinking and that we space out sometimes," explained Heero. "However, what confirmed it was when I asked Saotome to videotape Daidouji-san. I said that you asked me to ask Saotome to stop videotaping you; but you never came over to ask me anything. Saotome didn't seem to notice, but Hiiragizawa picked up on it. After that, I didn't see any point in denying it."

"It's okay, Heero-kun," consoled Sakura. "They would have found out eventually. But now that you mention it, I'm a little surprised that nobody else figured it out."

"Especially Li and Ami-san, right?" finished Heero. Sakura nodded her head. "I was thinking the exact same thing earlier."

"So what do we do now?" asked Sakura.

"I don't think we have to do anything," answered Heero. "Hiiragizawa doesn't seem like one who would tell anyone, so we should be fine."

"What should be fine?" interrupted Duo as he skated up to the couple.

"Nothing," Heero stated with the usual amount of annoyance he had in his voice whenever he was interrupted by his fellow Gundam pilot.

"Did you need us for something, Duo-kun?" asked Sakura in her normal sweet voice, which Duo much preferred over Heero's annoyed tone.

"The others all figured that since you two seemed to be off in your own little world again, that you probably didn't hear the announcement."

"Announcement?" asked Sakura.

"Hai," Duo confirmed. "They just announced that they will be holding a competition for amateur pairs figure skating. The rest of us are all entering and we were wondering if you two wanted to enter as well."

Heero turned toward Sakura. "Shall we?" he asked as he outstretched his hand to the cute girl.

"Hai!" Sakura answered enthusiastically.

"We're all heading over to enter now," said Duo. "They will pick the order of presentation of the competition at random."

"How much time until they start?" Heero asked.

"The first couple is scheduled to skate in about fifteen minutes," answered Duo.

"That isn't much time," Sakura commented.

"Just hope you don't have to go first."

"We'll handle it," stated Heero.

"Confident as always I see," sighed Duo. "Let's go catch up to everyone and register."

After quickly registering, Heero and Sakura took to the ice to begin working on a possible routine. "I had no idea you were so good at skating," praised Sakura as Heero landed a flawless combo jump.

"You aren't too bad yourself, Sakura-san," Heero responded with a smile, making Sakura blush slightly.

"It's all thanks to Tomoyo-chan," said Sakura. "She and my school teacher, Mizuki-sensei, taught me how to skate, and Tomoyo-chan is really good."

"She is quite skilled," commented Heero as he watched Tomoyo do a few jumps and spins to show Ranma how they were done. "However, your athletic ability is superior to Daidouji-san's and I believe she would agree with me in saying that you have surpassed her abilities. Besides, it looks as if Saotome isn't much of a skater, so I doubt they stand a chance against us in the competition."

"I think Tomoyo-chan would rather be videotaping anyway," Sakura remarked.

Heero had to laugh at Sakura's remark. "I bet you're right."

"May I have your attention please?" announced the young man running the skating competition. "We have determined the skating order. The first pair up will be Heero Yuy and Kinomoto Sakura. The rest of the couples will be announced as their turns come up."

"We're first?" said a worried Sakura. "But we haven't had enough time to prepare."

"Don't worry, Sakura-san," Heero consoled as he pulled the adorable auburn haired girl into a caring hug. "We'll be fine."

"Besides," added Eriol with a smirk. "I'm sure you two will find a way to make your routine great by communicating during the performance."

"Will Heero Yuy and Kinomoto Sakura please report to center ice to begin your routine," said the announcer.

"Come on, Sakura-san," said Heero as he took Sakura's hand into his own and led her to center ice. "Are you ready?"

"Hai," answered Sakura, even though she was a little nervous.

"_Don't be nervous, my cute little Cherry Blossom,"_ sent Heero to Sakura telepathically. _"We'll be fine."_ Sakura couldn't help but blush at the mention of the pet name Heero had given her. _"Just follow my lead and we'll give them a show they'll never forget."_

"_Hai!"_ answered Sakura with a happy tone of voice inside her head.

As the music began to play, Sakura and Heero spun around each other doing what almost looked like a dance on the ice. The two moved in such perfect harmony with each other that the crowd of people standing around the ice rink were in complete awe at the sight. Once the two separated they both started off by skating side by side in exact synchronization, followed by a triple jump and a double jump combo, also in exact synchronization. The crowd watched on in amazement at the ability of the couple to skate in such perfect coordination, unaware of the fact that the reason they were able to skate so perfectly was because they could coordinate their actions by communicating via their telepathic link. A couple minutes into the performance by Heero and Sakura, the crowd finally managed to overcome their shock and were now cheering wildly at each of the movements that were executed perfectly by the ice dancing couple.

When their time on the ice was almost over, Heero and Sakura suddenly stopped in the middle of the performance. The whole crowd murmured in confusion as to why this perfect pair stopped before the completion of their program, but only Eriol, Ami, Minako, and Syaoran knew what had made the couple stop skating. The reason was because a strong magical presence had presented itself. The crowd did quickly figure out that something was wrong when the entire rink was suddenly covered by a gigantic dome of ice, separating Sakura and Heero from everyone else present.

"Heero-kun," said Sakura as she skated over to Heero. "Do you feel the presence too?"

"Hai," Heero answered. "It feels like a Clow Card. Based on the situation, I would guess that this Clow Card is related to the Freeze Card you have."

Sakura never had a chance to respond to Heero's comment, as a block of ice suddenly burst through the rink surface, forcing the two Card Captors to separate. Once they were apart, the Clow Card seemed to decide that Sakura was to be its main target and continuously caused pieces of razor sharp ice to break through the surface of the rink. All Sakura could do to avoid being impaled by the ice attacks was skate as fast as she could. The relentless assault didn't even give Sakura enough time to release her Star Wand.

Heero, on the other hand, had plenty of time to release his Clow Key, which he did without any hesitation. With Clow Sword in hand, Heero called forth the Wing Card and took to the air. He then quickly swooped down and picked up Sakura in his arms, just moments before another piece of ice broke the surface. "Are you alright?" asked Heero with concern as he flew the two of them higher to get out of the reach of the Card.

"Hai," answered Sakura between gasps as she recovered from the strenuous workout. "Thank you, Heero-kun."

Heero responded to Sakura's thanks by giving her a very quick kiss on the lips. "Can you release your wand? We still need to capture the Card."

Sakura nodded and took hold of her pendant. "Key that Hides the Power of the Stars. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Sakura Command You Under Contract. Release!" As the Star Pendant extended into the Star Wand, Sakura pulled out a Sakura Card. "Fly!" As the Fly Card released from its confines and created a pair of wings on Sakura's back, Heero gently let go of the Card Mistress to allow her to fly on her own power. "How do we capture the Card?" asked Sakura. "We can't see where it is."

"We'll just have to make it show itself," Heero answered. "Why don't you try using the Thunder Card to get its attention?"

Sakura nodded her head and pulled out the Thunder Card. "Thunder!" As the giant magical beast was released, it caused bolts of lightning to erupt from its body, striking various points across the ice rink below. The attack obviously got the Clow Card's attention, for numerous pieces of ice came flying out from the center of the rink, some of which were sent so far, so fast, that they struck the Thunder Card's beast form so hard that they caused it to revert back into card form. Amongst the many pieces of ice, also rose a figure of a woman with ice blue skin, piercing white eyes, long flowing hair and wearing a set of beautiful white robes. As the Clow Card continued to float into the air, Heero and Sakura could see it was protected by a translucent blue bubble of energy.

"Ready, Sakura-san?"

"Hai!" With weapons raised, Sakura and Heero flew straight at the Clow Card, ready to strike.

Meanwhile, outside the dome of ice where Sakura and Heero were fighting, Syaoran and the others were all trying to make sense of the situation. "This is a Clow Card's doing, right?" asked Minako to verify she was feeling the magic correctly.

"Hai," answered Syaoran.

"We have to find a way to get inside that dome of ice to help Heero-kun and Sakura-chan," commented Ami.

"There's no way we can do that with all these people here," pointed out Minako.

"Hiiragizawa, can you take care of the people around here?" Syaoran asked Eriol.

"I'll take care of it," Eriol answered as he ran off to find a hidden area where he could use his magic. "Key that Holds the Power of Darkness. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Eriol Command You Under Contract. Release!" From their vantage point, the others could all see the faint golden glow come from around the corner where Eriol had gone, right before each and every person in the area suddenly fell over asleep. A moment later, Eriol reappeared from around the corner and rejoined the group.

"Alright," stated Syaoran who had already released his sword. "Lets get through this ice barrier." Syaoran charged forward, with weapon raised, and struck down with full force on the giant ice dome. The result was not what Syaoran was expecting, for as his blade made contact with the magically created ice, some type of repelling shield showed itself and Syaoran was knocked backwards with enough force to send him flying through the air, causing him to drop his sword out of his hand in the process.

"Syaoran-kun!" screamed a worried Ami as she ran over to where Syaoran was thrown, as he struggled to shakily stand up. "Are you alright?"

Syaoran shook his head a couple times to clear it as he finally got to his feet. "I'm alright. Just wasn't expecting that to happen," he answered. Syaoran then looked down at the concerned face of his Senshi girlfriend and gave her a smile. "Thank you, Ami-san."

"You alright Li?" Ranma asked as he walked over to Syaoran and handed him his dropped sword. "Looks like you took quite a shot."

"I'm fine," Syaoran answered, not wanted to show any weakness. "The barrier has some sort of shield around it. I don't think physical attacks will work on it."

"It could be the other way around," pointed out Eriol. "Your sword is magical, don't forget. It may have been reflecting your magic."

"There's only one way to find out," said both Duo and Ukyo at the same time, as Duo walked toward the wall of ice and Ukyo pulled out one of her small throwing spatulas. Ukyo threw her spatula at the ice, only to see it bounce off the reflective barrier, right back at her so fast that she almost didn't have enough time to duck out of the way. Duo didn't have much better luck, as he was spun around three times in the air, eventually landing flat on his back, after delivering a powerful spin kick.

"Ouch," Duo said in a half-serious, half-joking voice while he laid on his back on the ground after Minako had run over to make sure he was alright. "I think Li was right."

"So do I," added Ukyo as she stared wide-eyed at the spatula embedded halfway into a nearby tree.

"Let's see how it handles this," said Ranma. "Möko Takabisha!" The beam of energy erupted from Ranma's hands and struck straight into the barrier. Luckily for them, the beam didn't bounce back like the physical attacks did, but unfortunately it didn't look like it effected the ice at all either. Wanting to get a closer look, Ranma examined the point of impact of his attack, only to find a very small dent. He then looked back toward everybody else. "This could take a while." Everyone sighed in anguish, but all got prepared to do a magical attack on the ice barrier.

Back inside, Heero and Sakura were busy dodging various ice shards, which was getting progressively more and more difficult, as the Clow Card stepped up its attacks. Both Heero and Sakura had attacked the Clow Card numerous times, but the shield surrounding it had repelled all the attacks. Just like when Syaoran had struck the dome from the outside, when Heero had attacked the shield with his Sword of Space, he had been fiercely thrown backwards, and during the moment when Heero was stunned from the repelling force, the Clow Card shot numerous sharp ice shards at Heero, ripping his green shirt and blue jeans, and cutting him in various places on his arms, legs, and face. Sakura had attacked with her Clow Cards, and even though not a single Clow Card had been able to penetrate the shield, she had at least always been able to dodge the Clow Card's counter-attacks. After dodging the latest round of attacks, Heero flew over to where Sakura was floating and trying to catch her breath.

"How do we capture this card, Heero-kun?" asked Sakura.

"I don't know," Heero answered truthfully. "But maybe if the others are able to penetrate the wall, they can give us a hand." Both Sakura and Heero had been able to feel Eriol, Syaoran, Ami, and Minako's attacks on the dome of ice.

When the pair of Card Captors felt the Clow Card's energy begin to swell again, they prepared themselves for another round of dodging icicles. However, the attack they were waiting for never came. Instead they just looked on in curiosity as the Clow Card closed its eyes and clasped its hands together.

"What is it doing?" asked Sakura as she watched the Clow Card rotate its hands as if it were modeling clay.

"I'm not exactly sure," answered Heero. He knew the Clow Card must be charging up for an attack, but he couldn't decipher what type of attack it was going to be, or when the attack would come. In an instant, the intense white eyes of the Clow Card shot open, and something that looked almost like a smirk appeared on the icy blue lips of the woman. "Look out!" yelled Heero as he quickly pushed Sakura out of the way, moments before the Clow Card shot a semi-solid, semi-liquid beam right where Sakura had been. Unfortunately, by pushing Sakura out of the way, Heero had put himself into the line of fire and was struck full force by the beam and flung straight into the ceiling of the large ice dome. Heero hit with such power that the impact actually cracked the ice dome, as well as knocking Heero unconscious. Seeing that it had disabled one of the fighters attacking it, the icy Clow Card flew over to the comatose figure of Heero, who was stuck in the groove in the ice dome that his body had created when it crashed.

Sakura wanted to attack the Clow Card to keep it from getting too close to her boyfriend, but from the angle she was at, she was afraid that her attacks might accidentally strike Heero as well. All Sakura could to was feel tears begin to well up in her eyes as she watched the Clow Card slowly cover one of the most important people to her in ice. It only took moments for the Clow Card to make Heero into a human size ice cube, by which time Sakura was on the verge of completely breaking down and crying her eyes out. _"Don't cry, Sakura-san,"_ Sakura heard inside her head. _"Everything will be alright."_

"_Heero-kun?"_ asked Sakura with surprise.

"_Hai,"_ Heero answered.

"_But you were unconscious and frozen."_

"_My body is frozen, but my mind is still awake. However, I don't know how long my body can stand this extreme cold."_

"_But I don't know what to do to get you out."_

"_I believe in you, Sakura-san. All you need is to believe in yourself."_ With that last thought, Heero's voice left Sakura's mind, leaving the teen alone to try and figure out a way to rescue her fellow Card Captor.

Sakura pulled out all of her Clow Cards and looked at each and every one. She stopped on the Firey Card. _"I know I have used this already, but what other choice do I have?"_ After convincing herself that she had to try, she released the card. "Be the flames that melt the ice. Firey!" The powerful elemental Clow Card released from its confines and flew straight at the icy barrier in an attempt to melt its way through to the Clow Card underneath. The power of the Firey Card was obviously not strong enough, as it failed to get even close to the Clow Card before using up all its energy and reverting back to card form once again. _"It's not strong enough," _thought Sakura to herself. _"What do I do now?"_

Suddenly, from beneath all the ice, Heero's body began to glow a faint white, and Sakura watched with curiosity as what looked like a Clow Card flew away from Heero and passed right through the barrier and then hovered right in front of her face. "The Magma Card?" said Sakura as she took hold of the Heero Card. _"But this is one of Heero's changed Clow Cards. How am I supposed to use it?"_

"_Just believe in yourself,"_ Sakura very faintly heard in her head.

"_Just believe in myself," _Sakura repeated. _"Hai, Heero-kun. I will._" Sakura took a deep breath and the threw the Magma Card into the air. "Lend me your strength to melt the icy barrier. Magma!" As Sakura struck down on the Magma Card with her wand, the entire area lit up a bright white as the Magma Card released from its card form. Sakura was a little amazed that she had actually been able to release the card, since she had been unable to release the new Clow Cards before they had been changed. The moment of amazement was short lived however, as Sakura had to concentrate her energy to try to make the Magma Card a little more powerful in order to melt the new Clow Card's ice barrier. The hulking released form of the Magma Card flew slowly toward the ice barrier of the new Clow Card and impacted with a loud thud. The heat from the Magma Card was much more effective than the Firey Card, melting some of the barrier, but it didn't seem to have quite enough energy to make it all the way through. Despite this, Sakura continued to channel her energy into the Heero Card and had it continue the unrelenting assault.

Outside, all the magic users were beginning to tire, and they had only managed to get a quarter of the way through the tremendous ice dome. "This isn't going to work," said Ranma as he gasped for air after his latest attack. "It's just too thick and we aren't doing enough damage."

"But we have to get in there and help them," countered Minako, even though she too was out of breath and running low on magical energy.

"Syaoran-kun," said Ami to the future Li Clan leader. "Do you remember a while ago when Heero-kun said that our aura's merged?" Syaoran nodded, unsure of where the blue haired genius was going with this line of questioning. "Well, when Heero-kun and Sakura-chan merge their energies, they become much stronger. What if we try to do that?"

Syaoran thought for a moment before answering. "It sounds like a good idea, but will we be able to do it? We have never even tried merging after that one incident."

"We have to try," said Ami. "Sakura-chan and Heero-kun might really need our help."

Syaoran nodded in agreement, and gently pulled Ami into a caring embrace. "Here goes nothing." Both Ami and Syaoran began to focus their magical energies, unsure of where or not they really could merge their aura's, and if so, what it would feel like. They didn't have to worry for long, for as soon as Ami's light blue aura and Syaoran's green aura manifested themselves, they both began to swirl and intermingle with each other. Neither Syaoran or Ami could say a word. They could only bask in the feeling of warmth and energy that was surging through their bodies. They both knew that Syaoran's fire attack was more likely to be more effective than any of Ami's Sailor Mercury attacks, so Ami allowed Syaoran to control the new power they had discovered. "God of Fire, Come Forth!" At Syaoran's command, flames shot forth from the powerful couple and impacted with full force on the ice barrier. It was quite clear that combined, Ami and Syaoran had more than doubled their power, for it only took one shot to blast through the previously impenetrable ice wall.

While Sakura was continuing her relentless assault with the Magma Card, she had felt Ami and Syaoran's powers increase dramatically and also noticed out of the corner of her eye that a piece of the ice dome had suddenly disappeared. The destruction of a piece of the ice dome also had a secondary effect. It appeared that the dome was part of the new Clow Card's energy, for as soon as it was destroyed, the shield surrounding itself and Heero began to flicker and weaken. This was all Sakura needed as the Magma Card broke through the weakening shield and impacted directly on the Clow Card. Sakura saw this as her one chance, and didn't miss it. "I Sakura, Mistress of the Cards Command You. Return to Your True Form. Clow Card!" In a flash of white light, the Clow Card disappeared and then rematerialized as a Clow Card and floated over to Sakura's hands. At the same instant, the entire ice dome disappeared. However, since Heero had been frozen inside the top of the dome, and he was still unconscious, this caused him to go falling head first toward the hard ice rink below. "Heero-kun!" screamed Sakura as she flew downward as fast as she could, praying she would be able to catch Heero before he hit the ground.

"God of Wind, Come Forth!" Beneath Heero a small tornado of wind arose and gently caught him before he hit the ground at a deadly speed.

Seconds later, Sakura landed next to Heero's still unconscious body. "Thank you, Syaoran-kun," she said to the savior of her boyfriend. "Heero-kun," Sakura whispered as she gently stroked the cheek of the unconscious warrior. Then, without warning, Sakura too slipped into unconsciousness from exhaustion and fell on top of Heero, dropping the Clow Card onto the ice.

The Card slid a few feet, and landed closest to Ami, who picked it up and studied it. "The Ice Card," she told everybody. "I think these are the symbols of the Watery and Freeze Cards, right?"

Syaoran took a look at the Clow Card. "Hai. They are."

"I think we should go back," interrupted Tomoyo. "Sakura-chan and Yuy-kun need to get some rest."

"Daidouji-san's right," agreed Duo as he and Ranma walked over to where the two Card Captors were sleeping. Ranma carefully picked up Sakura, and Duo picked up his fellow Gundam Pilot. They allowed Eriol a minute to use a spell to wake everyone back up, with a small change in their memories, and then the teens walked back to the dorms, with Ranma carrying Sakura, Duo carrying Heero, and Tomoyo bringing along the giant stuffed animal Sakura had gotten earlier.

The group was so preoccupied with Sakura and Heero's conditions, that nobody noticed the large dark figure hovering high in the air looking down on them. "Li Xiao Lang. Li Xiao Long. Very soon you will meet your end at the hands of the all powerful Charon!"

Author's Notes:

Sorry this last section took so long to post. I have been busy, plus have had a mild case of writer's block, plus this section is pretty long. I hope you liked this latest chapter. I will start Chapter 12 as soon as I get a chance, and hopefully it will be good. As I always say, please review my story. I like getting reviews. Thanks!!!


	36. Sakura and the Magical Forest Part I

Chapter 12: Sakura and the Magical Forrest

Tokyo, Japan

"How are you feeling?" Syaoran asked Heero as they walked out of their Economics class after their latest exam.

"I've been in worse shape," answered Heero despite the throbbing pain that still existed in his head. "Although if we hadn't had an exam, I probably would not have attended this class either."

It was the day after the battle with the Ice Card, and Heero was not quite fully recovered from the ordeal. After sleeping the entire night after being knocked unconscious by the Ice Card, Heero had awoken to find Sakura cuddled up against him in his bed. Sakura had woken up a few minutes after Heero, but she woke up with no pain while Heero had a splitting headache and numerous cuts and bruises on his body. After taking a few moments to say good morning, make sure they were both alright, and give each other a kiss, the couple had gone outside to find Duo, Eriol, and Ranma all eating breakfast. The three guys had told them that after they defeated the Ice Card, they had taken them both back to the dorms. The original plan was to put each of them in their own respective beds, but then Tomoyo pointed out that whoever woke up first was most likely going to go straight to the other, no matter how injured they were, so it seemed easier just to put the two of them in the same bed. Heero and Sakura thanked the three guys for their help, before going back to Heero's room to rest some more. They each mutually decided that except for Heero's Economics class, since he had an exam, they would take the day off from school and just relax together.

"Are you heading back to the dorm now?" asked Syaoran.

"Hai. Sakura is waiting there for me," said Heero. "She decided to skip her classes today and just rest. I assume you are going to meet Ami-san outside her Psychology class like usual?"

Syaoran just nodded an affirmative to his cousin. "We'll stop by afterwards and check up on you two. Ami is worried about both of you and wants to make sure you're both alright."

"When you see her, just tell her we are fine and that we just needed some rest."

As Heero and Syaoran were reaching the turnoff where they would split so Heero could go back to Sakura and Syaoran could meet Ami, they both began to notice the sky slightly darkening and there didn't seem to be any people around either. Although Econ was their last class of the day, it was still early enough that it shouldn't have been getting dark yet, and the area they were in was always bustling with students going from place to place.

"Do you feel that?" Syaoran asked Heero once they stopped to examine the situation.

"Feel what?" replied Heero.

"The magical presence."

Heero pushed back all the pain in his head and body and forced himself to concentrate. "It feels faint," said Heero after concentrating hard enough to pick it up. "I can't determine a location, but it doesn't feel far away, just masked somehow."

"I agree," confirmed Syaoran. "But this feeling is unlike any I have felt before."

"It's not a Clow Card," said Heero.

"No, it is definitely not. Something about this feels completely wrong." Syaoran closed his eyes to see if he could get a better feel. "It feels almost like an aura of pure evil."

"You two are more observant than I thought," said a booming voice that seemed to come from all around them. "But that won't be enough to save you; Li Xiao Lang and Li Xiao Long."

"Who are you!?" called out Syaoran into the air as both he and Heero constantly scanned the entire area for the source of the voice that was addressing them.

A loud laughing echoed throughout the air. "You should be more worried about attempting to find a way to save your own useless existences."

"Why don't you show yourself," challenged Heero as he and Syaoran both released their swords. With a grin and a mocking tone, Heero added, "Then we will see who has to worry about finding a way to stay alive."

Heero's taunting obviously angered the voice, as a loud roaring sound filled the area. Heero and Syaoran watched the sky grow even darker with a number of lightning flashes illuminating the ground while thunder boomed across the sky. When they spotted one particularly dark cloud descending toward them, both Heero and Syaoran took ready positions. However, what emerged from the dark cloud was a sight that shocked both fighters. Before them stood a large figure with a demonic expression, a look of pure bloodlust in its eyes, and wearing what looked like a black cloak wrapped around his body.

"Now you will experience the power of Charon!"

At first, neither Heero or Syaoran remembered the name Charon, but the memory quickly returned. "No wonder the aura felt so evil," said Syaoran. "You aren't even human. You are a demon."

A wicked smile spread across the face of the evil demon, showing sharp yellow teeth, stained with spots of dark red blood. "Now you're catching on."

"I thought you were trapped in the spiritual realm," said Syaoran.

"Thanks to your Clan I was," hissed Charon with anger and spite in his voice. "But now I am back to exact my revenge." The smile disappeared from Charon's face as he closed his eyes and began to concentrate his energies, chanting some type of spell.

Heero and Syaoran didn't wish to wait for the demon to finish his spell. To counter attack, Heero called forth the Wing Card to give both Syaoran and himself increased maneuverability. With magical wings now attached to their backs, Syaoran and Heero charged their enemy with swords raised, moving at incredible speed.

The two fighters reached striking distance moving at full speed, and were prepared to finish the battle in one powerful strike, when the demon's fiery red eyes shot open. Neither Heero or Syaoran even flinched when they saw Charon's eyes open and a devious grin cross his face, but also neither one was expecting what came next. Mere moments before being simultaneously impaled by the two swords, Charon's cloak unfolded in a single lightning fast motion, knocking Heero to the ground several feet to the right, and Syaoran several feet to the left.

"I just got back to the physical plane," said Charon with a laugh. "You think I will allow myself to be defeated so easily?"

Heero and Syaoran lifted their heads and looked back at their enemy to find what they had previously believed to be a cloak covering the length of the demon, was really a giant pair of black wings that had previously been folded around his body. They could also see that he had a much more muscular physique than they had thought. Their attack plan had been based on the fact that when Charon's wings had been folded around his body he didn't look very physically capable, and therefore they assumed he was more of a magical threat. This development changed their mindset, however, as a giant sledge hammer appeared and the demon grasped the handle tightly with both hands.

Heero was a little quicker to regain his wits than Syaoran, and resumed the assault on the demon alone. Charon turned toward the charging Li Clan member, and with a grin on his face, brought his weapon up in a ready position. As Heero flew toward his enemy, he raised his sword, getting prepared for a slashing attack. Charon saw this and maneuvered his hammer to block the impending strike. However, by doing this, Charon left himself wide open for any number of attacks, and Heero exploited this. Instead of slashing down with his sword, he faked the attack and instead landed a powerful roundhouse kick to the unguarded side of the shocked demon. However, Heero's attack didn't stop there. Taking a step forward to get back into reach of the staggering fiend, Heero followed up his kick with a punch with his free hand, another roundhouse with is left foot, a side kick with his right, and finally a slash with his sword that resulted in a spray of dark black blood from a large gash on the wing of Charon. This strike caused enough pain to the demon to get him very angry, and he released a burst of evil energy that was strong enough to send Heero flying through the air, landing on his face and sliding a few feet on the ground.

The monstrous demon took slow long strides until he was hovering right above Heero, who was struggling to get back up after Charon's attack. "Now, Li Xiao Long," said Charon as he raised his giant hammer above his head. "Now it is time for you to die!"

Just as Charon was about to squish Heero's head like a tomato with his hammer, a bolt of lightning came flying through the air, striking Charon in the back hard enough to stop the execution.

"Sorry to disappoint you," taunted Syaoran, who was standing up with sword in hand. "But I don't believe either one of us plans to die today." During Syaoran's little speech, Heero took the opportunity to roll out of the reach of Charon, and slowly made his way to his feet. "You alright Yuy?"

Heero closed his eyes for a moment to gather himself and then nodded to his cousin before resuming his fighting stance.

At seeing both his opponents taking ready positions, Charon allowed an evil grin to cross his face. "Good. I was hoping for an entertaining fight and you almost let me down."

Syaoran was the first to resume attacking the taunting demon, flying full speed at Charon, forcing him to turn and face the incoming assailant. Just as Charon pulled up his weapon to defend himself, Syaoran stopped on a dime just out of reach, and smiled. Charon took a moment too long to process the action of the Li, and was slow to react when he saw Heero out of the corner of his eye, flying straight at him from behind. Heero landed a solid kick to the open backside of the demon, sending him falling straight at Syaoran, who did a spinning kick to the side of Charon's head, sending him flying off to the side, landing hard on the ground and skidding face first on the dirt until he came to a stop. Before the demon could rise, Heero and Syaoran attacked again.

"God of Wind, Come Forth!"

"God of Fire, Come Forth!"

Heero's wind attack and Syaoran's fire spell combined and struck Charon straight on, engulfing the entire area in flames. However, when the flames dissipated and the smoke cleared, the site before Heero and Syaoran was not what they were expecting. Instead of the figure of Charon lying on the ground in pain, he was standing straight up with his arms crossed across his chest and had a fire burning in his blood red eyes. "Do you really think a fire attack will work against me?" said Charon with a smirk. He then unfolded his arms and closed his eyes and in a flash his previously jet black wings erupted in a frenzy of bright orange flames. "You best learn more about your opponent. I am a great demon of fire. Your attacks mean nothing to me." Both Heero and Syaoran got back into ready stances as they realized the fight was far from over. "Now let me show you what a fire attack is supposed to be." Charon closed his eyes once again, and concentrated his magical powers. The result was a pair of glowing red fireballs, one in each of his hands. The same evil smirk again crossed Charon's face, as he heaved both fireballs simultaneously at the pair of college students. Heero and Syaoran quickly dove out of the way of the incoming attack, but their struggles didn't end there. Instead of impacting the ground as their original trajectory would have led them, the two fireballs changed direction and flew straight at Syaoran, forcing him to jump out of the way again. This same pattern continued, with the fireballs gradually gaining ground on the dodging magician.

When Syaoran's luck had finally run out and he had no time left to dodge the deadly balls of fire, Heero finally took action. "Be a protective barrier. Wall!" When Heero released the Wall Card, a giant white wall barrier erected itself right between Syaoran and the two quickly approaching fireballs. The first of the two attacks struck full force on the magical barrier, creating a loud booming sound as it exploded in a flaming spectacle. After the explosion of the first fireball, the second came streaking in right after it. Heero expected the same result with the second fireball, but once it was too late he noticed that the explosion of the first attack had caused a giant hole to appear in the barrier he had put up, and the second fireball flew right through it. Completely unhindered, the second fireball impacted right on Syaoran, who only had enough time to raise his sword and arms in front of his face to provide what little protection he could manage. The fireball exploded with just as much force as the first, and sent a now unconscious and very injured Syaoran flying through the air. Syaoran landed unceremoniously on the ground with a thump and laid there completely unmoving as thin streams of smoke rose from his badly burned and injured body.

Heero looked on in shock at his roommate, that he recently found out was also his cousin, laying on the ground unconscious and obviously in very bad shape. Heero quickly regained his composure and turned to face the one responsible for the attack that injured his cousin. Charon stood still, admiring his handiwork, with his trademark evil grin plastered on his face. "One down," said Charon as he turned toward Heero. "One to go."

"Don't think it will be that simple," growled out Heero. He then pulled out one of his Clow Cards he had not yet transformed. "Card Created by Clow. Discard Your Old Form and be Reborn, Under the Name Heero; Your New Master." The Clow Card Heero was holding glowed a bright white for a moment as it changed itself into a Heero card, then dropped back into the hand of its new master. "See how this feels," said Heero directly to the demon in front of him. "Douse that demon. Tsunami!" Heero unleashed the Tsunami Card, seeing its true form for the first time since he wasn't there for its capture. The giant wave of water steadily made its way toward Charon before collapsing against the ground, submerging the demon underneath its watery mass. Charon had been caught completely off guard, since in his previous fights with the Li Clan many years ago; he had learned that almost none of the Li's had good control over the element of water. This made his fights against the members that much easier, since water was his one and only weakness. All Charon had had enough time to do was close his fiery wings around his body and try to protect himself from the falling wall of water. While the Tsunami Card wasn't strong enough to kill him, it was powerful enough to cause him substantial damage.

When the water from the Clow Card finally disappeared, Charon was on one knee, obviously shaken up, but not destroyed. "You win this round, Li," muttered Charon. "I will not underestimate you next time." With that, Charon concentrated his remaining magical power and transported himself away from the scene.

Heero watched as the demon retreated from the battle and then rushed over to his fallen comrade. He gave Syaoran a quick once over, but his knowledge of medicine was not extensive enough to determine exactly how badly he had been injured from Charon's blast. His first instinct was to just bring him to a hospital for care, but didn't know what kind of questions he might be asked if he did that. He then thought that Ami would probably be able to figure out just how injured Syaoran really way, plus she was very close to the guy so Heero figured she should know what happened. Taking a glance at his watch he noticed it would be at least half an hour before Ami got out of class and Heero knew she turned off her cell phone when she was in school. He then remembered the Telepathy Card and pulled it out of his pocket. "Card Created by Clow. Discard Your Old Form and be Reborn, Under the Name Heero; Your New Master." The Telepathy Card turned a bright white momentarily and then turned back into a normal card. "Give me a telepathic connection with Ami-san. Telepathy!" When Heero released the Telepathy Card, he saw the little boy that first showed up when he captured the card appear for a split second, and then disappear again. Heero wasn't sure if the card had worked but knew there was only one way to find out. _"Ami-san. Can you hear me?"_

"_Heero-kun?"_ came a thought in Heero's head in a voice that sounded just like Ami's.

"_Hai. I'll explain the telepathy thing later. Right now, I need your help in the clearing between the math and science buildings. Please come as soon as possible."_

"_Alright,"_ answered Ami._ "I'm on my way."_

When the short conversation was over, Heero recalled the card and immediately started to feel the effects of changing such a powerful card. Heero forced himself to ignore the feelings of weakness as he awaited Ami's arrival.

Ami had been listening intently to the lecture of her professor when Heero's telepathic call came through. She was very startled at first, but did a good job of keeping her composure as she talked to Heero through the temporary link. After the conversation was over, Ami packed her bag in lightning fast time and then quickly made her way out the door. When she heard Heero ask her for help, she knew it must be some sort of an emergency since Heero wasn't the type of person to ever ask for help. She ran as fast as she could to the area Heero had mentioned, hoping everything was alright, although already knowing something must be very wrong.

When Ami first caught sight of Heero, she began to breathe a sigh of relief since it looked as if he was alright. However, when she allowed her focus to drift downward slightly, her breath caught in her throat and her heart began beating at an unusually high speed. What she saw was Syaoran on the ground with Heero kneeling over him, obviously unconscious and he looked to be injured quite badly. Ami started running even faster than before and since she was running on adrenaline she didn't even notice her lack of oxygen when she finally reached her fallen boyfriend. "What happened?" Ami asked in a hurried and worried voice.

"We were attacked by a demon," answered Heero. "Li got hit pretty hard and you know much more about injuries than I do, so I called you. I didn't know if taking him to a hospital was necessary, since they will ask lots of questions we wouldn't be able to answer. Li is breathing and has a heartbeat, but I don't know to what extent his other injuries might be."

Ami bent over Syaoran and tried to examine him as carefully as she could. It turned out to be more difficult than she imagined it to be, since her hands were trembling from fear and her eyes were starting to water making it difficult to see clearly. She did manage the examination, even in her state, and was at least a little relieved to discover that it didn't seem like Syaoran had any life threatening injuries. "I think his arm is broken and he probably has a concussion, but it doesn't seem as if his injuries will be fatal."

"Is he safe to move?" asked Heero.

"As long as you are careful, it is probably a good idea to get him out of here and back to the dorms," answered Ami. Heero nodded and then picked up his roommate, making sure not to aggravate his broken arm. "You don't look too good either, Heero-kun," said Ami when she noticed his slightly pale complexion and saw that he wasn't moving with the exactness and precision he normally demonstrated.

"I had to change two Clow Cards," answered Heero. "It takes a lot out of me. But I'll be fine." Ami hoped Heero was right, but couldn't think about it for long since worrying about Syaoran was a little more important at the moment, since Heero would definitely be alright after a day or two. Heero and Ami then made their way, quickly but carefully, back to the dorms to take care of Syaoran's injuries.

Author's Notes:

Oh no! Syaoran got hurt! But it's ok, cause he'll be back to his usual self in no time. Now, to answer the question that many of you have asked, and probably the rest of you have thought. Charon is a fictional character that I created. He's based on some Greek myth or something like that, but he has no association with any anime series. Anyway, for the reason he is even in the story, it is because I needed something to create the need for Heero to change all of his Clow Cards into Heero Cards. Charon is not a part of the Li Clan or anything like that. He is just an evil demon who got into a fight with the Li Clan a number of years ago. So, I hope this answers all your questions about Charon. If not, just leave another question in your review and I'll try to answer it in my notes that go along with my next post. Hope you all enjoyed the first part of Chapter 12!


	37. Sakura and the Magical Forest Part II

Tokyo, Japan Few Days Later

Syaoran awoke with a splitting headache and the feeling of pain coursing throughout his body. His left arm was in a cast made by Ami, to keep him from aggravating the two fractured bones in the limb. He had countless spots on his body that has been bandaged up because of either deep cuts or bad burns. Despite all the pain he had to endure to do so, Syaoran turned his head to look down at the one positive thing he had going for him at present. For the last three days, since the fight with Charon, Ami had been sleeping with Syaoran in his bed because of a mix of her stubbornness and his insistence.

Flashback, Three Days Earlier

When Syaoran had regained consciousness after being hit with Charon's powerful fireball, he had found himself in his own room with Ami passed out, sleeping sitting in a chair and resting her head on top of him lying in his bed. With Sakura, Heero, and everyone else's help, Ami had immobilized his broken arm and bandaged up his wounds, and was now passed out from worry and exhaustion. However, when Syaoran was stirring while waking up, he also unintentionally disturbed Ami's slumber, waking up the previously soundly sleeping Senshi.

"You're awake!" exclaimed Ami when she saw Syaoran's caring amber eyes looking down at her.

"Hai," Syaoran managed to get out as Ami gave him an excited, yet careful, tight hug around the neck.

"I was really worried," whispered Ami as she felt tears of relief forming in her eyes while she held on tightly to Syaoran's neck.

"I'm sorry for worrying you," answered Syaoran, feeling Ami's tears falling from her eyes and dropping onto his shoulder. With his free hand, Syaoran placed a hand lightly on his girlfriend's head and gently ran his fingers through the soft blue strands of Ami's hair. Ami finally let go of Syaoran, and pulled away just far enough for Syaoran to carefully wipe away her tears and lightly cup her soft cheek in his hand. Ami closed her eyes and held Syaoran's hand close against her face, relishing in the feeling of warmth provided by his body and his magic. After what felt like an eternity, and yet also no time at all, Ami reopened her eyes and guided Syaoran's hand off her cheek, interlocking their fingers and resting their hands in her lap.

"How do you feel?" Ami asked after she felt she had spent enough time as the worried girlfriend and switched into doctor mode.

"Like I was hit by a truck," answered Syaoran. When he saw the concern starting to show again on Ami's cute face he quickly added, "But I'll be alright. Do you know what happened after I got knocked out?"

Ami responded by nodding her head. "Heero-kun explained the entire situation to all of us. Apparently after you got hit, Heero transformed the Tsunami Card and managed to injure Charon enough to make him run away for the time being. After that he transformed the Telepathy Card and told me you had been hurt. We then brought you back here and immobilized your arm, which is fractured in two places so you better make sure not to movie it, and bandaged up the cuts and burns you had."

"When you say 'we' did the medical care, I assume you mean you did most of the work and the others just did as you told them," said Syaoran as sweetly as he could. Ami blushed a deep shade of red and slowly nodded her head. Being the modest person she was it was embarrassing for her that Syaoran knew she had done most all the work. Syaoran very gently placed his hand on the small of Ami's back, pulling her into a light embrace until he felt Ami's silky smooth hair against his cheek. In a voice so quiet that had Syaoran's lips not been mere centimeters from her ear, Ami would never have heard it, Syaoran whispered, "Thank you, Ami-chan." Ami couldn't help but smile when she heard Syaoran put such a personal touch to her name by calling her Ami-chan. In reality it may have been a very minute detail, but neither Syaoran nor Ami were in the habit of missing such details, so the comment meant worlds to the teen.

When Syaoran pulled away, which left Ami with a feeling slight sadness; he had a hint of his usual seriousness in his expression. "Is something wrong?" asked Ami.

Syaoran answered Ami by asking a question of his own. "What is the Telepathy Card?"

"Do you remember that weekend near the beginning of the school year when all of us, except Heero-kun and Sakura-chan, went on that Biology trip?" Syaoran nodded his head to Ami's question. "Well, apparently during that weekend the two of them captured a Clow Card called the Telepathy Card. It is made from Mirror, Time, and Illusion if I remember correctly."

"Must be a powerful card," interrupted Syaoran.

"Yes, it is. They said that before they captured the Card, it created some type of permanent telepathic link between Heero and Sakura's minds. When Heero-kun changed the Telepathy Card yesterday, he used it to make a temporary link with me to tell me that you had been hurt."

"Why didn't they tell us about the Card before?"

"It seems that they refrained from telling us about the Telepathy Card because they wanted to keep their telepathic link they shared with each other a secret."

"Now that I think of it," said Syaoran as he was contemplating the situation. "Sakura and Yuy do seem to space out a lot, and they always do seem to know what the other is thinking."

"You're surprised that we didn't figure out they had a telepathic link before, right?" asked Ami rhetorically. "I was thinking the same thing when I found out, and apparently Tomoyo-san came to the same conclusion. The only one who already knew about the link was Hiiragizawa-kun. He said he figured it out a couple days ago when we were at the ice skating rink."

"So the link between you and Yuy is gone?"

Ami nodded. "The link was severed as soon as Heero-kun recalled the Card."

Syaoran was about to ask if he missed anything else, when he saw Ami yawn slightly, indicating that she was more tired then she was trying to let on. "You should go get some sleep, Ami-chan," said Syaoran with a smile. "You seem to be exhausted."

"I'm fine," answered Ami, although it was a partial lie. "Besides, I don't want to leave you. I'm afraid that you will get up and do something to aggravate your condition."

"I'll be fine now, thanks to you," responded Syaoran. "But you need some sleep."

"No," stated Ami firmly. "I'm not leaving you."

Seeing that Ami had taken a stand and wasn't going to budge from her position, Syaoran did the only thing he could think of at the moment. He pulled up his covers slightly and motioned for Ami to get under. "In. If you won't go to sleep in your own room, then you will at least go to sleep in here."

Ami was a little surprised both that she had won the argument and also that Syaoran would offer to share his bed with her since she wasn't going to leave his side. Although she was a little nervous, since it would be her first time sleeping in the same bed with a guy, Ami's natural feelings of comfort that she got when she was around Syaoran and her exhausted state made the offer seem most agreeable. Wordlessly, Ami made her way under Syaoran's green sheets and snuggled up against the warmth provided by her boyfriend's body. The comfortable position she was in quickly took over Ami, and in no time at all she fell fast asleep. "Good night my sweet Mercury Princess," whispered Syaoran to Ami's sleeping form as he gently stroked her soft blue hair with his one good hand.

End Flashback

After taking a few moments to soak in the beauty of the girl sleeping with him, Syaoran very carefully bent down and gave Ami a gentle kiss on the forehead. Syaoran couldn't help but smile when he heard her soft moan of contentment and saw the smile creep across Ami's sleeping face. Although it didn't do so right away, Syaoran's kiss did serve to wake up the sleeping Senshi, and Ami awoke to find Syaoran's soft amber eyes staring down at her and a cute smile crossing his lips. "Morning," Syaoran greeted.

"Good morning," answered Ami as she smiled herself. This wasn't merely a standard greeting, because for Ami it really was a good morning. Ever since she had started sleeping in the same bed as Syaoran, Ami had found herself waking up feeling better than ever before. Syaoran would also admit that since he started sleeping with Ami, he woke up feeling very refreshed. Even his wounds were healing just the slightest bit faster than he and Ami had expected. What the couple didn't know was that while they were sleeping, their magical energies intermingled with each other, and the increased power from the combined magic was serving to heal Syaoran faster and keeping them both in better health, which explained why they both woke up feeling so refreshed. "What time is it?"

"A little past ten," answered Syaoran after checking the clock out of the corner of his eye. "We can sleep a little longer if you want."

"No, it's okay," answered Ami. "Want to go out for some breakfast?"

"Sure."

Ami smiled up at Syaoran again and then quickly gave him a kiss on the lips before getting out of bed. Syaoran got up right after Ami, and after changing he walked with her the few doors down the hall to the girls' suite.

"Good morning everyone," greeted Ami when she walked through the door of her dorm suite.

"Morning," responded Minako, Duo, Ranma, Tomoyo, Eriol, and Ukyo in unison.

"How is your arm, Li-kun?" asked Tomoyo.

"Getting better," answered Syaoran.

"We were about to go out for some breakfast. Do you want to come along?" invited Ami when she saw the girls weren't dressed yet, showing they had only recently gotten up.

"Sure," answered Minako for everyone present.

"Where is Yuy and Sakura?" wondered Syaoran.

"They just left a few minutes ago," said Eriol. "I think they said something about going to where Yuy keeps his Gundam for more lessons."

"I still can't believe Sakura-chan is learning how to pilot that huge mobile suit," said Tomoyo with sparkles in her eyes. Tomoyo had wanted to go to videotape Sakura learning to pilot Wing ZERO, but Heero had told her that there wouldn't be any way she could do that since the cockpit was already too cramped with only two people inside. Tomoyo had been a little dejected at first, but she soon got over it and was back to her normal self after some cheering up by Sakura.

"Those two make a very interesting couple," mused Eriol. Everyone present laughed at Eriol remarks, thinking about how unorthodox the lives of both Heero and Sakura were.

Uninhabited Forest Somewhere in Japan

"These two levers control the throttle," explained Heero as he continued explaining the different cockpit controls. "When you are flying and taking off, push them forward to increase the power in each of the engines."

"This is a lot more complicated that I thought," whined Sakura from her position in the pilot seat of Wing ZERO. "I know I said I wanted to learn how to pilot your Gundam, but I didn't know it was going to be so hard and confusing."

Heero laughed lightly at Sakura's whining and gave her a gentle kiss on the top of her head. "Wing ZERO is probably the most advanced machine on this planet. It takes most people years to get acquainted enough with the controls to pilot a mobile suit effectively." In the reflection of one of the view-screens in front of them, Heero saw Sakura frown and cutely wrinkle her nose at the idea. In the numerous lessons Heero had already given Sakura, he had only finished teaching her how to start up Wing ZERO's main systems, how to walk, and how to control the different limbs of the machine. He was now in the process of teaching her the basics of how to use Wing ZERO when it was in the air. "But I can assure you it won't take you nearly that long. Once you know where the basic controls are and how to power up the main systems, ZERO will teach you the rest."

"Because of the ZERO System?" asked Sakura while moving her hands across the various controls, making sure she remembered all the ones Heero had already taught her.

"Hai," answered Heero. "With the System's help, you'll have perfect control over the suit's actions and be able to pilot ZERO in no time."

"It will really teach me how to pilot itself?" asked Sakura, who wasn't quite convinced that a machine could teach her to operate itself.

"It should," answered Heero. "But in truth I'm not sure it will work, since Duo, Trowa, Wu-Fei, Quatre, and myself have been the only ones to ever pilot this suit before."

Sakura turned around and gave Heero a look of amusement. She never would have thought he would trust in something he had never seen before. "If you think it will work, I'll believe in you then." Heero smiled at Sakura and gave her a quick kiss before pointing to the next set of controls in the cockpit.

"Ready to give it a try?" asked Heero after giving Sakura a little while to review after teaching her the last of the main controls.

"Are you sure I know enough to do this?" asked Sakura who was still a little skeptical of her own abilities and of the abilities of the ZERO System.

"We've had quite a few lessons and you know all the controls," answered Heero. "I'm positive you can handle this suit, at least on the ground, but there is only one way for you to find out for yourself."

Sakura sighed, knowing Heero was right. If she ever wanted to learn to pilot Heero's Gundam, she would eventually have to overcome her own self doubts. Knowing Heero thought she was ready enough to pilot the suit did give her a bit of confidence, but the idea of piloting a thing like Wing ZERO was still daunting to the girl. "Alright," Sakura finally said. "I'll try."

"Don't worry, Cherry Blossom," said Heero, making Sakura blush again at the mention of her pet name. "You can do it." Heero gave Sakura a light kiss on the top of her head for luck, and then strapped into the auxiliary seat and watched intently as Sakura began letting her fingers dance across the controls.

Considerably slower than Heero, since she was still a beginner, Sakura methodically pressed each button in the sequence Heero had showed her, in an attempt to start up the main systems of Wing ZERO. Heero knew Sakura knew all the necessary controls to start up the Gundam, but still found himself a little surprised that she didn't make a single mistake because of her apparent nervousness. Immediately after Sakura finished the final sequence to start up the giant mobile suit, Wing ZERO came to life with a rumble. If anyone had been present, they would have seen the mobile suit slowly activating; green eyes lighting up and white wings extending out.

"I did it!" exclaimed Sakura in triumph.

"I knew you would," said Heero with a smile. "Now all you have to do it start up the ZERO System, and with its help you should be able to control the suit well enough to move around." Heero had purposely taught Sakura a sequence in starting up ZERO that would allow the ZERO System to be powered up last and independently.

Sakura didn't say anything to Heero in response, merely nodding her head slightly instead. Of all the capabilities of the mighty mobile suit, Sakura felt the most anxiety toward the ZERO System. From what Heero had told her, despite all the firepower of the Gundam, the ZERO System was still the most dangerous part of Wing ZERO's design, since it had the ability to cause the pilot to act completely out of character and do things they would not otherwise want to do. When Sakura had heard this, she had immediately told Heero that she wasn't sure if she wanted to learn how to pilot ZERO anymore, but he had quickly reassured her of her abilities by reminding her that she had already been exposed to the ZERO System before and nothing bad had happened. Plus he would be with her the entire time, and promised he would keep her safe.

Sakura sighed lightly and started moving her hands across the controls meant to start up the ZERO System. Heero noticed Sakura was moving just slightly slower across the controls than earlier. Knowing that it was not because she didn't know the controls, Heero could only assume it was because she was still a little fearful of the ZERO System. _"Don't worry, Sakura-san,"_ said Heero quietly in their shared minds. _"Everything will be fine. I promise."_

"_Hai, Heero-kun. I trust you."_ Just as she finished her thought to Heero, Sakura's hand settled on the final button to start up the ZERO System, and with eyes closed, Sakura gently touched down on the control. As the ZERO System received the command to activate, the entire cockpit lit up an eerie yellow color and the system created its links between the two minds present in the cockpit.

"Are you alright, Sakura?" asked Heero once the ZERO System was fully operational.

"Hai," answered Sakura in a voice that held a hint of surprise in it. "I was expecting to feel a lot different, but all I feel is a slight tingling sensation in my head."

"Once you start piloting the suit, you'll notice the effects," said Heero. "Believe me."

Sakura took a deep breath and gripped the Wing ZERO mobility controls firmly in both hands. Remembering what Heero had taught her, Sakura began manipulating the controls in an attempt to make Wing ZERO walk forward. However, once she started playing with the controls, she found herself no longer thinking, and just acting. With much more grace than she thought she would be able to achieve, Sakura managed to make Wing ZERO execute each movement she had wanted. While she was experimenting with moving around the arms and wings of the mobile suit, the reason she was performing so well finally hit Sakura.

"Wow," Sakura said in amazement. "The ZERO System really does help. It isn't controlling my actions, but it helps me control the suit without having to think about how to do what I want to accomplish."

"That is the purpose of the System," answered Heero. "It is meant to allow for soldiers to react in battle in a much more efficient manner than they normally would manage. Since you are not fighting anything, you shouldn't encounter the one flaw in the System that makes it really dangerous."

"It might be flawed like you say," said Sakura thoughtfully as she made Wing ZERO lift slightly into the air and flap its wings. "But it seems to be really useful in teaching people to pilot these mobile suits."

"You are very correct," said Heero with a smile to the back of Sakura's head.

Sakura saw Heero smile at her in the reflection of the view-screen in front of her, and also allowed a smile of her own to cross her lips, both from seeing Heero's smile and from his earlier compliment. For the next hour, Sakura continued to practice controlling the mobile suit, even managing to fly for a short distance and land, although a little roughly, without damaging anything. "That was so fun!" said an excited Sakura as she jumped from the open cockpit down to the ground below.

"I must admit I was very impressed," complimented Heero as he jumped to the ground right after Sakura. "Even with the ZERO System, you did an exceptional job piloting."

Sakura blushed and looked down at the ground with a smile on her face. "Thank you, Heero-kun." She eventually looked back up from the ground when she felt Heero's gently hand on her cheek, and found Heero's deep cobalt eyes staring down at her. Although the look in Heero's eyes seemed to scare most people, whenever Sakura lost herself in those intense blue pools, it would always melt her heart. Tilting her head upward and getting up on her tip toes, Sakura gently touched her own soft lips to Heero's. Both Heero and Sakura closed their eyes and wrapped their arms around one another and enjoyed their passionate kiss in the peacefulness of the outdoors.

When the couple broke their kiss, Sakura looked around at their surroundings and noticed something she had surprisingly never noticed before. "Do you want to go for a walk?" Sakura asked with a smile. "I never noticed just how beautiful this forest is before."

Heero took a moment to look around, and he too found their surroundings to be much more lively than he had previously noticed. "I'd love to," answered Heero who was rewarded with another smile and a quick kiss from Sakura.

The couple started to leisurely walk through the beautiful forest, but not after long, Sakura started running, jumping, hopping, and skipping around the trees and flowers, with Heero casually following with a smirk of amusement on his face. "I can't believe I never knew how beautiful this place was," said Sakura in awe as she stared at her surroundings. The leaves of the tall trees were a rich dark green in color and glistened in the sunlight from the accumulated moisture from the air. This moisture created a light mist throughout the area that slightly dimmed the bright sun overhead, creating a magical glow in the area. Not a single brown leaf could be seen as the trees swayed ever so slightly in the gently breeze, causing intermittent drops of dew to fall from the highest branches. Rustling could be seen and chirping could be heard, within the denser parts of the luscious green foliage, as birds and other forest creatures scurried about looking for food amongst the leaves. On the ground below, small saplings, that would one day become the grandest of trees, drank in the moisture from the air above and awaited the chance to rise to magnificence. Also growing in the fertile brown soil were small bunches of wildflowers, each of which seemed to be a slightly different shade, creating a beautiful ocean of color. The patches of blue, yellow, violet, pink, white, and red sparkled in the sunlight and emitted a most pleasant fragrance, adding to the freshness of the air.

"It really is a breathtaking sight," said Heero with a smile. "But it's even more beautiful because you are in it." Sakura hid the bright red blush on her face by burying it in a rainbow of colorful flowers. Heero chuckled to himself at Sakura's cuteness and found a spot at the base of a nearby tree where he sat down to enjoy the peacefulness and to watch Sakura running happily amongst the flowers. _"This really is a magical place,"_ Heero thought to himself. Just as this thought entered his mind he realized something. He realized that he could feel magic emanating from all around him. The magic did not feel weak, but it felt like it was a subtle power. This was not the strangest part of the feeling however. The strangest part of the feeling was that Heero could swear it was a Clow Card.

Sakura eventually noticed the perplexed expression on Heero's face and skipped over to where Heero was sitting to ask what was wrong.

"Can you feel it?" Heero asked Sakura when she plopped down beside him.

Sakura showed a face of confusion at first, but then suddenly she noticed the presence of the magical force. "A Clow Card?" asked Sakura as she tried to make sense of the strange magical feeling.

"I think so," answered Heero. "But it feels a little different somehow."

Sakura closed her eyes and using one of the skills Syaoran had taught her, she attempted to discern the nature of the Clow Card by feeling its magical presence. The results of her concentration startled even herself with the amount of detail and information she received just from the magical presence. "It is called the Heal Card," said Sakura, surprising Heero that she knew that. "It is one of the kind cards and just wants to stay here and help the forest grow."

"How do you know all this?" asked Heero in slight disbelief.

"Syaoran taught me long ago how to concentrate to determine the nature of some magical presences," explained Sakura. "It helps distinguish one type of magic from another, but I have never been able to read a presence so thoroughly before."

"And you are sure it just wants to stay here and won't cause any trouble?" asked Heero. Sakura nodded her head an affirmative. "Are we allowed to do that?"

"I don't see why not," answered Sakura with a shrug. They were both silently deciding what would be the best course of action when Sakura suddenly got an idea. "If this is the Heal Card, then maybe it can heal all of Syaoran-kun's injuries."

"But I thought you wanted to allow it to stay free?"

"I do," answered Sakura. "But maybe it will let us borrow its power for a little while."

"How are we supposed to do that?"

"We release a Clow Card that can talk, so it can ask the Heal Card." Sakura thought for a moment before speaking again. "I can release Mirror since it can speak, and you can release Telepathy. I know Telepathy can talk since it spoke to us right before we captured it."

"Well, let's give it a try then," Heero said as he took hold of his pendant he wore around his neck, watching Sakura do the same.

"Key that Hides the Power of the Stars/Space. Show Your True Self to Me. I Sakura/Heero Command You Under Contract. Release!"

"Mirror!"

"Telepathy!"

Once released, the little boy form of the Telepathy Card and the girl true form of the Mirror Card stood before the couple. "Can you two please talk to the Heal Card and ask it if we can capture it so we can heal our friend and then release it to live here in peace afterwards?"

Both Clow Card nodded their heads and then closed their eyes to converse with the unseen Heal Card. When they finally reopened their eyes, both Mirror and Telepathy spoke in unison. "Heal agrees with your request and thanks you for allowing it to live free. It also says if you ever need its help, Heal will be happy to help the Card Master and Mistress."

"Thanks," thanked Sakura sincerely. In a flash, the entire area lit up a beautiful white. Once the light had disappeared, Heero and Sakura saw three cards. One was Sakura's Mirror Card, one was Heero's Telepathy Card, and the last was the brand new Heal Card.

Sakura picked up the Heal Card and thanked it again before she and Heero left to heal Syaoran before returning to re-release Heal to care for the beautiful forest.

Author's Notes:

Here's the end of Chapter 12. I have final exams coming up next week, so I won't be starting Chapter 13 until afterwards. However, after my finals it is summer vacation! Woohoo! During summer I should have plenty of time to write, so hopefully there will be numerous updates in the coming months. I also plan to continue my other story I uploaded, although it will probably be completely revamped. I also thought of a new story idea which will be pretty much an only CCS story, with S&S as the main couple. Anyway, hopefully I will get to start that one this summer too. Again, thanks to all those loyal readers who have read and reviewed all my chapters! Bye!


	38. Sakura's Friends' Great Challenge Part I

Chapter 13: Sakura's Friends' Great Challenge

Tokyo, Japan

"I'm really starting to dislike this part of campus," remarked Syaoran.

"Maybe we need a new route to Sakura and Ami's class," agreed Heero.

A couple weeks after the fight with Charon, Heero and Syaoran were at the same junction on campus where the demon had attacked them, although this time they were both heading the same direction since both Ami and Sakura had class together. They had been casually walking along when they both suddenly felt a magical presence. They had stopped walking when they felt the presence, and a split-second later a giant orange box erected itself around and above them, trapping them inside.

"Key that Hides the Power of Space. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Heero Command You Under Contract. Release!" As Heero released his Clow Sword, Syaoran also took the pendant from around his neck and released his own sword. "Let's get out of here," said Heero.

Syaoran nodded at his cousin and both Li Clan leaders took a ready stance, facing the same wall. Simultaneously, both Heero and Syaoran slashed down on the wall, only to have their blades bounce harmlessly off the surface.

"Well that didn't work," commented Syaoran as he knocked the wall with his recently healed arm, thanks to the Heal Card's power. "Let's give magic a try. God of Lightning, Come Forth!" Bolts of lightning erupted from Syaoran's sword and impacted on the wall in front of him. The lightning bolts remained on the surface of the wall, trying to break through, but were eventually repelled away. Unfortunately for Heero and Syaoran, they were both directly in the return path of the lightning attack and were each hit directly in the chest, knocking them to the ground. "Sorry about that," apologized Syaoran as he and Heero got back up.

Heero just waved off the apology since he knew the result of Syaoran's attack was unintentional. "This thing must have a weak spot somewhere."

The two took a minute to carefully examine the box they were trapped in. "I don't see anywhere that might be a weakness," commented Syaoran.

"Neither do I," agreed Heero. "Too bad we can't get a look from the outside."

"Maybe Sakura can help us out," suggested Syaoran when he remembered Heero's telepathic connection with the Card Mistress.

"I've been trying to talk to her," answered Heero. "But it seems our connection is blocked. Her Through Card would probably be helpful right now."

"What about the Ghost Card?" Syaoran suggested. "It can move through walls."

Heero nodded and took out the Ghost Card. "Card Created by Clow. Discard Your Old Form and be Reborn, Under the Name Heero; Your New Master!" The Ghost Card glowed white as it changed from a Clow Card into a Heero Card. The new Ghost Card now replaced the old Glow Card picture with a picture of a transparent old man with an eerie glow surrounding him. Heero pulled out the Telepathy Card and released it along with his new Ghost Card. "Find us a weakness in this wall. Telepathy! Ghost!" When the two cards released, the Ghost Card went through the wall of the box trapping Heero and Syaoran, to look at the outside, while Telepathy stayed within the box to communicate whatever the Ghost Card found.

After a couple minutes of patient waiting, the Telepathy Card finally spoke. "There is a weak point here," said the Telepathy Card as it pointed to a bottom corner of the box. Heero nodded to his Clow Card and then recalled both Ghost and Telepathy. Heero then motioned for Syaoran to proceed with the attack, since they both knew Syaoran's lightning attack was probably the most practical attack for the situation.

"God of Lightning, Come Forth!" Syaoran's lightning attack impacted in the exact corner of the box and exploded. This time the bolts did not bounce back at Heero and Syaoran, but instead destroyed a very large section of the box.

"Return to Your True Form, Clow Card!" As Heero sealed the new Clow Card, the box surrounding Syaoran and himself turned into ribbons of energy and rematerialized as a Clow Card that floated over to Syaoran.

"The Trap Card," stated Syaoran as he handed the Card to his cousin after they both recalled their swords. Heero took the Clow Card to inspect it, but saw nothing her wasn't already expecting. The design of the Card was just like all the other unchanged Clow Cards and the front had a split picture with both Mist and Libra featured. Having both seen the Clow Card now, Heero placed it in his pocket and he and Syaoran resumed their walk to Sakura and Ami's classroom.

"You two are late!" scolded Sakura with a mock angry face and tone of voice when Heero and Syaoran finally walked up to where she and Ami were waiting.

"We've been waiting for like a whole three minutes!" added Ami to keep up the charade Sakura had started.

"Sorry honey," joked Heero as he pulled Sakura into a kiss to keep her from fake complaining anymore.

Syaoran followed Heero's lead and did the same with Ami. "Are we forgiven?"

Sakura and Ami looked at one another and giggled. "I guess so," Ami finally said as she kissed Syaoran again.

"So what took you guys so long anyway?" asked Sakura, who now had her back against Heero's chest with his arms wrapped around her waist. Instead of answering Sakura with words, Heero reached into his pocket and pulled out the newly captured Trap Card. Sakura shifted into an upright position, no longer leaning against Heero's chest, when Heero handed her the new Clow Card. "You two captured a Clow Card?"

"Hai," answered Syaoran.

"Are either of you hurt?" asked Ami, who remembered what had happened the last time Heero and Syaoran had fought an enemy alone together.

"Nothing serious," said Heero. "The Clow Card never attacked us; it just trapped us inside a box. The only damage we received was from the deflection of Li's lightning attack."

Sakura and Ami looked at Syaoran both to determine if Heero was being truthful and also because it sounded strange that they got hit by Syaoran's own attack. "We're fine," said Syaoran when he saw the girls looking at him. "Don't worry."

"You two always say you're fine," commented Sakura. "Even when you obviously aren't." Heero and Syaoran both looked at each other and shrugged. They both knew Sakura was right, so didn't really have any way to respond to her comment.

"Are you sure it's okay for the rest of us to go out tonight without you guys?" Ami asked Heero and Sakura to change the subject.

Sakura nodded her head to her friend. "Hai. You guys are going to an over eighteen club, and just because we are still seventeen doesn't mean the rest of you shouldn't be allowed to have fun without us. Besides, we won't be eighteen for another two months so it wouldn't be fair to everyone."

"We'll find something to do," added Heero.

"I have no doubt," responded Ami as she smiled at the couple.

The two couples casually made their way back to the dorms, where everyone else was already waiting. The five guys changed for soccer practice, while the girls found other things to occupy themselves with before meeting the guys, minus Heero, at the club they were going to that night. Having not finalized any plans, Heero and Sakura decided to meet back at the rooms and figure out how to spend their evening alone.

Author's Notes:

I know this section is a little short, and that is mainly due to the fact that I was having a serious problem deciding what to make happen in this chapter. Still haven't quite figured out all the details, but I can tell you this much; for the first time, neither Sakura nor Heero will be the focal point of the rest of the chapter. Anyway, I'm done with school for the summer, so I plan to try to write more, but sadly I've had a slight case of writer's block. I seem to think of ideas for my story best while I'm "paying attention" to my teachers' lectures. Haha. Anyway, hope you enjoy this short section, and I will try to have the next part up as soon as possible.


	39. Sakura's Friends' Great Challenge Part I...

Tokyo, Japan

"So we'll meet you two and the girls at the club in a bit," said Eriol as he and Ranma got into Eriol's car to follow Heero back to the dorms.

"Alright," answered Syaoran who was standing by his car, waiting for Duo to finish up showering, since he had to talk with the coach for a few minutes after practice.

Syaoran patiently waited alone by the driver's side of his Porsche until Duo finally walked out of the locker room. "Where'd everyone go?" Duo asked when he saw only Syaoran waiting for him.

"Hiiragizawa and Saotome had to stop by the dorms for a second before meeting the girls," answered Syaoran. "They'll meet us at the club."

Duo nodded his head as he walked to the passenger side of the sports car and opened the door. Once they were both inside, Syaoran started up the Porsche and turned onto the main road to take them toward the club. It was about a ten minute drive to the club, but when Syaoran and Duo were about halfway there, a large something suddenly fell right in front of the car, forcing Syaoran to slam on the brakes. The car skidded to a stop just inches short from hitting the obstruction. When Syaoran and Duo looked up to find out what had fallen into the road, they were both shocked at what they saw. What stood in front of them was none other than the demon, Charon.

"What the hell is that!?" asked Duo in shock when he saw the giant brown figure with his black wings fully extended outward.

"That's Charon," stated Syaoran seriously as he unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the car door. Facing his enemy, Syaoran called forth his sword and gave a deathly glare to the demon. "I was hoping you had been defeated."

Charon let loose a mighty laugh as the prospect of himself being defeated so easily. "You think such a rudimentary water attack would defeat me? The entire Li Clan was unable to destroy me, and you two punks are not going to either!"

As Charon was talking, Duo stepped out of the car and got himself into a ready position, knowing a fight was imminent. "Let's see what you got, ugly!"

Charon looked straight at Duo with a smirk of amusement on his face. "And what do you think you can do? You are nothing but a little worm with no magic."

Despite the demon's insults, the grin never left Duo's face. "I may not have any magic, but I think I can hold my own against an oaf like you."

In response to Duo's taunt, Charon held out a single hand straight out in front of him. Syaoran could feel the demon's power growing, but only had enough time to jump out of the way as Charon let loose a powerful fireball that impacted directly on the hood of Syaoran's car. The resulting explosion also caught fire to the gas tank and the top end sports car erupted in flames. After taking a moment to admire his handiwork, Charon turned toward Duo, who was gaping at the sight of Syaoran's exploded car. "So you still think you can defeat me?"

Duo shifted his gaze from the burning heap that used to be Syaoran's car, to the smirking demon who's hand had the smallest trace of smoke rising from where he had released the powerful fireball. Turning toward Syaoran, Duo could see a glimmer of anger in his eyes as he stared at the demon before them. "Next time," said Duo in a surprisingly casual tone of voice considering Charon had just destroyed a car. "Remind me not to aggravate the demon." Syaoran looked at Duo when he spoke, and couldn't help but laugh lightly. The Gundam pilot always had a way of making even the most serious of situations seem trivial. "By the way," continued Duo. "Sorry about your car, Li."

"Don't worry about it," answered Syaoran. "The car is always replaceable."

Charon soon became quite annoyed when it seemed as though the two teenagers had forgotten all about his presence. In response he once again held out his hand in front of him, and this time shot a fireball in Duo's direction. Paying close attention out of the corner of his eye, Duo saw the fireball coming, and very easily ducked out of the way. A little surprised by Duo's quick reaction, Charon found himself in a position where he had a number of vulnerable targets. Both Duo and Syaoran took advantage of the demon's defenseless state, and attacked. Duo did a flying side kick to Charon's head, and at the same instant, Syaoran delivered a sweeping kick that knocked out both of the demon's legs. The result of the two simultaneous attacks was Charon being knocked flat onto his back on the ground with a loud thump.

"We might not be able to defeat you with magic," said Duo after taking a flip backward from where Charon lay on the ground. "But if you can't hit us with your own attacks, then your magic is just as useless." Charon slowly made his way back to his feet and sent a fierce look in Duo's direction, to which Duo started laughing. "You'll have to do better than that," he taunted. "Heero's death glare is much more intimidating than yours."

This time Charon got really angry. With fire burning in his eyes, he let loose another powerful fireball in Duo's direction, but Duo was too quick and managed to dodge the attack. After missing with the first fireball, Charon attacked with another, which Duo evaded once again. He followed his second fireball with a third, and a forth, and a fifth, all of which Duo managed to evade unscathed. "No matter how many times you try it, that attack just won't work against me."

Charon stopped attacking Duo for a moment, and stood up straight, smiling. "Do you really think that is my only method of attack?" Without giving Duo a chance to respond, Charon tossed from a closed fist over a dozen smaller balls of energy, each one flying at Duo from slightly different angles and at varying velocities. Even with Duo's unusually fast reactive abilities, it was physically impossible to dodge all the smaller fireballs. Duo managed to evade the first few by a narrow margin, but after that, his luck ran out. The fourth fireball struck Duo directly on his shoulder, causing him to grimace in pain, but more importantly, throwing him off balance. His momentum broken, Duo was unable to dodge even one of the remaining fireballs, each one striking a different part of his body. By the time all the fireballs had found some target or another, Duo was hardly able to even stand. His legs were shaking badly, and he was only able to keep one of his eyes open, since one of the fireballs had struck the left side of his face. Charon laughed at Duo's severely weakened state and again, put in hand out in front of him. "Now let's see you dodge my attack this time!" From out of Charon's outstretched hand, another giant powerful fireball started forming.

Duo closed his one eye he could still control, and prepared himself for the attack. He knew very well that he had no chance of dodging the attack, and most likely because of his current state, such a powerful attack would probably kill him. Duo had been prepared for death a long time ago, but for some reason, at this moment he feared such an outcome. In his mind, an image of Minako appeared, and Duo knew he couldn't die yet. Reopening his one good eye, Duo tried to determine some way of defending himself. However, luckily for Duo, one fraction of a second before Charon released his deadly attack, Syaoran came flying in from out of nowhere and kicked Charon directly in the side of his unguarded head. The blow caused Charon to become unbalanced, and his attack flew wildly off into the air. Syaoran followed his kick with a slash with his sword across Charon's chest, drawing dark black blood. Charon stumbled a few steps backwards, and Syaoran finished off his combo with a powerful lightning attack that caused the demon to fly through the air, landing on his back on the ground for the second time that night. Syaoran jumped over to where Duo was teetering, and supported him with his arm. "You alright Maxwell?"

"Never better," choked out Duo as he gave his roommate a crooked smile. "Did you get him?"

"I didn't cause enough damage for him to be down for long," answered Syaoran as he watched Charon begin to make his way back to his feet. "Can you stand on your own?"

"I'll be fine," answered Duo as Syaoran allowed him to stand on his own power. Syaoran then began walking toward Charon to begin the second round of the battle. "Hey Li," Duo called out. "Don't go getting yourself killed." As Duo expected, Syaoran didn't even bother turning around since he was so focused on the task at hand.

Syaoran watched from a ready position as Charon pulled himself up off the ground and brushed himself off as if nothing significant had happened. Syaoran's flinch at seeing that his attack had pretty much no effect on the powerful demon was almost unnoticeable, but Charon caught sight of the minute gesture and smirked. Knowing he had the young Li Clan leader against the ropes, Charon called forth his giant hammer and got into a position to strike at Syaoran with powerful physical attacks. Syaoran was not sure if he should be relieved or apprehensive at the fact that Charon would be attacking him physically instead of magically. On one hand, magically he was at a distinct disadvantage since he had almost no control over the one element that Charon seemed to be weak against. But on the other hand, it was also clear that the demon's body was able to withstand a substantially larger amount of physical damage than he himself. His only positive thought was that since Charon was so big and muscular, he was likely to be fairly slow in his actions, so Syaoran figured he should have a speed advantage.

Feeling that it would not be beneficial to be stuck in a defensive position against the powerful demon, Syaoran opted to go on the offensive. Syaoran jumped right into it with a stream of relentless offensive attacks, making sure to not leave any time between hits for Charon to get in a counter strike. After his first wave of attacks, Syaoran decided that he was correct in assuming he had a speed advantage over Charon. The size of the demon limited his movements just slightly, allowing Syaoran to connect easily on almost half of his strikes. Charon did manage to use his hammer to block the more powerful of Syaoran's attacks, but the quick, less powerful jabs with Syaoran's sword, free hand, and legs did connect at their intended targets. Unfortunately, Charon's superior pain and injury tolerance made Syaoran's attacks all but useless.

Syaoran jumped away from his opponent momentarily, as he gathered himself for his next round of attacks. At the exact moment that Syaoran began to charge forward again, Charon allowed a smile to cross his hardened face and with a powerful flap of his wings, Charon lifted off into the sky. Using his magic power to keep himself afloat in midair, Charon gazed down at the now stationary Li Clan leader with amusement. "Just give up," mocked Charon. "You know you are no match for me."

Syaoran glared back up at Charon, beginning to loose his composure. Even though he knew it was useless to do so, Syaoran called forth a single lightning bolt and directed it at the position in the sky where Charon floated. Seeing the desperate attempt to cause him harm streaking through the sky, Charon raised his hammer and easily blocked the incoming lightning bolt. Syaoran cursed under his breath at the futility of attacking the demon.

"Still don't give up?" continued taunting Charon with a smirk. "Well, perhaps this will change your mind." Charon placed both his hands side by side, a few inches apart, directly in front of him. He then concentrated his energy and began creating a powerful fireball. This fireball was slightly different than his pervious ones, designed to cause extreme pain, but deny the outcome of death. With another evil smile, Charon released the fireball, sending it streaking in Syaoran's direction. Syaoran watched the fireball fly towards him and prepared to jump out of its path right before it would normally impact in order to not leave Charon with enough time to redirect the attack.

A split-second before Syaoran was going to jump, the fireball suddenly stopped in midair. The sudden change caught Syaoran by surprise and he looked up toward Charon to find an even more wicked grin plastered on his face. Staring up at his opponent, Syaoran saw Charon's eyes momentarily flicker toward where Duo was barely standing. The slight moment by its creator caused the presently levitating fireball to abruptly change directions and made a bee-line straight towards Duo. "Maxwell! Look out!" screamed Syaoran when he realized Charon's target had never been himself, but his badly injured friend. Unfortunately, Duo was so injured that he just didn't have enough energy to attempt to dodge the incoming attack.

The fireball impacted directly on Duo's chest and exploded, the momentum being enough to send Duo flying through the air and landing on his back. However, amazingly enough, the explosion was the least noticeable part of the attack to Duo. When the attack hit him, Duo felt an experience more painful than anything he could have possibly imagined. Being trained to withstand all types of pain and torture, Duo usually had no problems with injury, but he had never felt anything like this at all. When the fireball impacted and exploded, it had the effect of slicing hundreds of minute cuts all over Duo's body. This alone was not enough for the Gundam pilot to be so surprised, but the extra magical effect changed the attack completely. Not only did the fireball cause the hundreds of cuts, but it also managed to create an extreme burning as well as a blistering freezing feeling all at once. The mix of the burning and freezing in his newly opened wounds caused Duo to cry out loudly right before passing out from the excruciating pain.

"Maxwell!" shouted Syaoran as he saw his roommate and friend get struck down. Syaoran took a single step towards Duo before hearing Charon speak again.

"You better worry about yourself before worrying about your friend, Li Xiao Lang."

Syaoran turned toward Charon, but instead of seeing the monstrous demon, all that filled his vision was the sight of another fireball streaking through the sky towards him. Since he had no previous warning, Syaoran only had enough time to get his arm partially in front of himself, and for the second time in two fights, Syaoran's sword was knocked from his hand as he went flying through the air from the impact of one of Charon's powerful fireballs. Unlike before, Syaoran was not knocked unconscious by the blast; however he was injured badly enough so that he couldn't manage to make his way to his feet.

Charon took his time walking over to the fallen Li Clan leader, enjoying his apparent victory. The demon walked until he was towering over Syaoran with a prideful smirk on his face. Syaoran stared back up at Charon with a look of determination, but was still unable to rise from the ground due to his extensive injuries. Raising his hammer high over his head, Charon took one last moment to savor his victory before delivering the final blow. "Say goodbye, Li Xiao Lang."

Syaoran closed his eyes as he saw Charon begin to bring his hammer down in a lightning fast motion. Syaoran awaited the deathblow he knew was imminent, silently wishing he could see Ami one last time. However, the blow Syaoran was expecting never came. Carefully opening his eyes, Syaoran saw a beam of bluish white light streaking over his head and the body of Charon flying backward a great distance. With his eyes, Syaoran followed the beam of energy back to its source and was grateful to see both Ranma and Eriol standing by Eriol's car. Ranma's hands were placed out in front of his body, indicating it was his Möko Takabisha that had saved him from Charon's deadly hammer strike. Syaoran never thought he would ever be glad to see Eriol, but for the first time was grateful to see the reincarnate of Clow Reed release his staff and prepare to do battle alongside Ranma against Charon.

Ranma and Eriol had been on their way to the club to meet Syaoran, Duo, and the girls, when Eriol began to feel a strong, evil magical presence and both teens spotted smoke rising from somewhere down the road. The two had arrived on the scene just in time to see Charon raise his hammer above his head, ready to deliver a deathly blow to Syaoran, who looked to be incapacitated on the ground. Ranma had quickly jumped out of the car and fired as powerful a Möko Takabisha as he could manage with the little time he had to power up. He didn't think his blast was even close to powerful enough to defeat the demon, who he assumed was Charon based on the physical description he had been given by Heero and Syaoran, but was relieved to see that it was strong enough to send Charon flying through the air and away from Syaoran.

"Key that Holds the Power of Darkness. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Eriol Command You Under Contract. Release!" chanted Eriol as he released his Sun Staff from its pendant form. Now fully prepared, Eriol took his place next to Ranma, who was already in a fighting stance, ready to attack Charon again once he got back to his feet. As Ranma had expected, he didn't have to wait long for Charon to recover from his rushed aura attack.

"What do we have here?" asked Charon as he brushed himself off. "Two more little weaklings who think they can stand up against me. There are just so many of you who want to die today."

"The only one who is going to be destroyed today is you," calmly stated Eriol. Before giving Charon a chance to respond to Eriol's comment, Clow Reed's reincarnation released a small water elemental attack. The little bullet of water raced toward Charon and upon impact expanded until it was large enough to completely engulf the fire demon in the liquid. Although it didn't look too powerful, the attack Eriol conjured up was actually his most powerful water elemental spell. Eriol had decided it was best not to play around, so he used what he thought would be his most effective weapon against the demon right off the bat, and hoped it would be enough to sufficiently injure the demon to cause a retreat.

Unfortunately, instead of hearing some type of cry of pain from the demon as Eriol had been hoping for, all that could be heard was the booming sound of laughter. In a flash, the water that Eriol had created evaporated into steam, and standing unharmed was a burning form of Charon. "You'll have to do better than that," taunted Charon with a smug expression on his face.

Ranma and Eriol both cursed under their breath and let loose another blast. The bluish energy of Ranma's Möko Takabisha streaked side by side with the bright red beam that came from Eriol's staff, toward the smirking form of Charon. The two streams of energy never reached their intended target, however. Moments before being struck, Charon raised his hand in front of himself and closed his eyes. The result was a powerful invisible magical barrier, upon which both attacks impacted and exploded harmlessly.

Charon laughed loudly at the futility of the attacks being mounted against him. "Now let me show you how it's done." The powerful demon raised his hands above his head, and proceeded to create two fireballs. These two fireballs were obviously a slightly different attack than all his previous ones, since they were each blue in color instead of red. Charon charged up the two blue fireballs until they were each about two feet in diameter. Once they reached full strength, the demon sent them flying, one toward Ranma, and the other toward Eriol.

The two teens saw the fireballs coming and each took a sidestep to avoid the attacks, but made sure to be ready for anything after hearing about the first encounter Heero and Syaoran had with the demon. They had heard about the ability of Charon to control the movements of his fireballs, so they weren't particularly surprised to see the energy balls change direction and retarget themselves. Eriol and Ranma made quick eye contact and nodded to each other just before taking off in different directions with a single fireball giving chase to each of them. They both moved at full speed to stay ahead of the energy attacks, and gradually made their way in a circular pattern until they were running full speed at one another. By this time, the fireballs had gained ground on the two teens, and were quite close to finding their targets. However, this did not worry either Ranma or Eriol, since it had all been part of the plan. Right as the two teens were about to run into each other, they each suddenly dove to the side and watched as the two fireballs destroyed each other upon impact.

The few moments Ranma and Eriol spent basking in their triumph over the powerful attacks turned out to be a mistake and Charon made them pay. While their guard was momentarily down, Charon took the opportunity to fly right between the two fighters. Neither Eriol nor Ranma had been expecting the sudden move since they had been so concentrated on dealing with the two blue fireballs, and were totally unprepared when Charon placed a hand in front of each of their bodies and released a blast of energy at point blank range. The blasts threw Eriol far off one way and sent Ranma flying in the opposite direction, smoke coming from both teenagers from the points in which they were blasted.

Normally Charon would have taken some time to savor another sweet victory, but his triumph time was interrupted when a black sports car suddenly rammed into him from behind at full speed. The collision threw Charon forward a number of feet, landing face first on the pavement for the fourth time that evening.

While Charon was lying on the ground from a mix of both surprise and pain, the doors of the sports car, opened and Ukyo and Tomoyo stepped out. Ukyo took one look at the hood of Tomoyo's Mercedes and grimaced. "I think you are going to need a new car, Tomoyo-san," she said.

Tomoyo also looked at the hood of her car and was a little surprised to see how extreme the damage was. When Syaoran, Eriol, Ranma, and Duo had not arrived at the club as they were supposed to, the girls got a little worried and drove back to their apartment. From a distance the four girls had spotted the ongoing fight between Charon and Ranma and Eriol. At first none of them knew who or what Eriol and Ranma were fighting, but it quickly became apparent that they were having a very difficult time. Minako stopped her car so that she and Ami could get out and transform into Sailor Mercury and Sailor Venus and join in the fight, but when Tomoyo and Ukyo saw their boyfriends get blasted from short range by the demon, Tomoyo had decided that she wanted to help in a fight for once and drove straight into the battle. Going at full speed, Tomoyo had crashed her car right into the back of Charon, sending him flying away from the fallen guys, but the crash had taken its toll on the top end car, as Charon's massive form had completely crushed the entire front of Tomoyo's car, destroying the engine and leaving the car useless. The two girls only spent moments looking over Tomoyo's car, before each running in opposite directions to check on their respective boyfriends. Both Ukyo and Tomoyo were relieved to find that Ranma and Eriol were alive, although they were each unconscious.

In the meantime, Minako, now transformed into Sailor Venus, had run over to Duo to see if he was ok, and Ami, in Sailor Mercury form, made her way quickly over to Syaoran. "Are you alright?" Ami asked as she knelt beside him and allowed him to lean against her since he was barely able to stay up on one knee.

Syaoran coughed and grimaced at the pain he felt from doing so. "I've been better," he answered with as much of a grin as he could manage. Ami visibly relaxed at finding out that Syaoran was at least ok enough to joke around. Ami took a second to steal a peak at Charon slowly getting up off the ground. He was obviously feeling some pain from being rammed by Tomoyo's car, but was clearly not injured enough to stop him from finishing the fight he had started. Syaoran also saw Charon getting back up, and noticed Ami looking in the same direction. "Go get him," Syaoran said, knowing Ami wanted to fight the demon, but also wanted to stay by Syaoran's side to make sure he was ok. "I'm alright. Just finish off that demon. You're Mercury water powers should be quite effective against him."

Ami gave Syaoran one last look and nodded her head. She stood up to face the Charon, who had now made it back to his feet and picked up his giant hammer. Ami was about to use her Mercury Aqua Mirage to attack the demon, but someone else beat her to the offensive.

"Venus Meteor Shower!" shouted Minako as she released an attack she rarely had ever used before. Ami was a little surprised at her fellow Senshi, since for the first time that she could remember Minako had a look of pure hatred on her face. Not only that, but Ami could also feel that Minako's attack was several times more powerful than normal. Ami allowed her gaze to drift over to Duo, and quickly figured out why Minako looked so angry. Duo was lying on the ground unconscious, and from what Ami could tell, he looked to be in far worse shape than both Ranma and Eriol, and definitely in worse shape than Syaoran. Ami also figured that Minako's huge power boost must have had something to do with Duo as well, since from what she could remember, all of the Senshi, except for herself for some reason, would always get more powerful when they were extra emotional.

Minako's rage made her attack so powerful that when the rays of red light fell from the sky atop of Charon, it not only impacted the demon, but the stray beams destroyed the entire area of the road surrounding him. Dirt, gravel, and asphalt were thrown in all directions, creating a cloud of dust and smoke around the area where Charon had been standing. Minako was fairly certain her attack had been powerful enough to at least injure Charon enough to make him retreat, but she was so angry at the moment that she didn't care. Even before the dust settled, Minako attacked again. "Venus Meteor Shower!" For a second time, countless beams of red energy streaked down from the sky and exploded on the ground below. The blast was extremely loud and created a huge gray plume of smoke above the road, which had now become a crater.

Ami was shocked at the amount of power demonstrated by her fellow Senshi. She had never before seen Minako pour so much raw energy into her attacks, and the destructiveness of the assault was astounding. Ami highly doubted that Charon could have survived such a powerful onslaught, but she decided to attack where he had been anyway. If nothing else, she figured her water attacks would hinder any possible fires that might start because of Minako's explosive attack. "Mercury Aqua Illusion!" Ami opted to use one of her older attacks instead of her more powerful Mercury Aqua Mirage, since she thought it might be overkill to go all out. The water crystals of one Ami's older, but still favorite, attacks flew toward the smoking crater and impacted with a splash. The water from Sailor Mercury's attacks met the heat from Sailor Venus' Meteor Shower attack and instantly turned to steam.

It took much less time for the steam to clear away than the smoke was taking, and soon the area was visible once again. Ami and Minako looked into the crater, still keeping their guard up, to see what had happened to Charon. They were a little surprised to see the demon was still alive, even after the powerful attacks, but he looked to be very injured. Charon was kneeling on one knee with his arms both in front of his face to shield himself as best he could from the attacks by the Senshi. Mercury and Venus watched as Charon slowly removed his hands from their position of protecting his face. Despite the size of Charon's muscular arms, he had been unable to completely protect himself from the assault, and the two girls could see that one side of his face had a huge gash all the way from above his eye all the way down past his bloody lips. The wound was keeping Charon from opening one of his eyes, and it also looked as if he was having trouble using his right arm. Swearing under his breath, Charon concentrated the last of his power and teleported himself away from the scene before the two magicians decided to finish him off.

Ami and Minako could only watch as Charon disappeared right in front of their eyes, and were briefly angry that he had gotten away. Their anger soon dissipated and changed back to the mix of fear and caring with regards to their boyfriends as they both transformed back to their normal states and again ran back to the sides of Duo and Syaoran.

"Did you get him?" asked Syaoran in a strained voice when Ami got back to his side.

"We injured him," answered Ami. "But then he just disappeared."

Syaoran managed a slight smile. "It looks like you two won this round then."

Ami silenced Syaoran with a quick and gentle kiss on the lips. "Stop talking. It isn't good for your injuries to be wasting your energy talking." Syaoran just nodded his head, knowing that Ami was probably right. Ami gave Syaoran another quick kiss before getting up to check on all the rest of the guys. Of everyone, Duo was obviously in the worst shape, but it seemed as if he would make a full recovery given enough time, thanks in no small part to his conditioning in his training as a Gundam pilot.

Once she was sure everyone was stable, Ami called Heero and Sakura on her cell phone, and the eight teens waited for the two Card Captors to arrive. In no time at all, Heero and Sakura came flying down the road in Heero's Ferrari and stopped where everyone was waiting at the side of the road. Since both Syaoran and Tomoyo's cars weren't drivable, Heero let Tomoyo drive herself and Ranma, who had now regained consciousness, back to the apartments in his car. Although he too was conscious, Eriol didn't feel up to driving back to the dorms, so he and Ukyo got into the backseat of his Jaguar, the only car that happened to even have a backseat, and let Ami drive, with Syaoran sitting in the passenger seat. With Heero's help, Minako got the still unconscious Duo into the passenger seat of her NSX and she followed Ami and Tomoyo back to school. Heero and Sakura called forth the Wing and Fly Cards so that they could get back home, but first made a stop at the forest where Heero kept his Gundam in order to ask the still free Heal Card if they could borrow its power again.

Author's Notes:

Sorry it took me a while to update my story, but this section turned out to be harder to write than I was expecting, plus it turned out to be pretty long. But, I did finish and now Chapter 13 is finally done. Just to let people know, I might not update this story for a little bit, for I am going to try to concentrate a little on my other two stories, since I only have like one chapter up for each of them. Please read and review this latest installment of CCS: The Next Quest. It would be really cool to have like at least 65 or maybe even 70 reviews by the time I update again (hint, hint). Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!


	40. Sakura Goes to the Sanc Kingdom Part I

Chapter 14: Sakura Goes to the Sanc Kingdom

Tokyo, Japan

"You are going on another expedition?" Sakura said into the phone with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"I'm sorry, Sakura," answered Kinomoto Fujitaka from the other end of the phone line. "I have been requested personally by the leader of the country to inspect what looks like the ruins of a once great city that was just discovered."

"It's okay, Otousan," said Sakura, even though the statement was just the slightest bit untrue. "I know your work is important to you."

"I know you were looking forward to coming back home for your vacation," continued Fujitaka. "But I promise I will make it up to you."

"Don't worry Otousan. I'll find somewhere to go during vacation. Love you. Bye."

Heero walked into the room just as Sakura hung up the phone with her father, and quickly noticed the slightly disappointed look on her face. "Something wrong?" Heero asked as he handed Sakura one of the glasses of water he was holding.

Sakura took the offered glass and took a small sip before explaining her situation to Heero. "Well, I was going to go back home for vacation to see my family, but Otousan got called away on an expedition, so now I have nowhere to go for the vacation."

Seeing the faintly sad look on Sakura's cute face, Heero stepped towards her and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. Heero already knew that Sakura's best friend, Tomoyo, along with Eriol, were both joining Ranma and Ukyo on a trip back to Nerima. Heero wasn't positive, but it seemed as though Duo and Minako were going to stay in Tokyo. Heero remembered Minako mentioning something about seeing old friends who were coming back to the city. Syaoran and Ami had already left and were on their way to Hong Kong since Li Yelan had invited Ami to come back. Not that she wasn't excited to vacation with Syaoran, but in some ways, Ami had wanted to stay to see her friends who were coming back, but she was so honored that she didn't want to say no and risk offending Syaoran's mother. "You can always come with me to the Sanc Kingdom," Heero offered.

Sakura's face got a little brighter at the prospect of going to another country and spending vacation with Heero, but she still didn't look completely certain. "Are you sure it's okay?"

Heero nodded his head. "Hai. Both Relena and Noin said they really want to meet you anyway. Plus there is plenty of room at the castle, so you will definitely have a place to stay."

Sakura now started to get really excited. From what she had read and heard about the Sanc Kingdom, it was a really beautiful country, and she was really looking forward to seeing it for herself. Also, the prospect of meeting a real princess was quite a thrill to the darling innocent girl. "Thank you!" exclaimed Sakura. With a smile from ear to ear on her face, Sakura jumped into Heero's arms, making both of them spill their water. "Oops! Sorry, Heero-kun."

Heero laughed lightly at Sakura's cuteness and gave her a quick kiss on the lips before wiping up the spilled water. "I think it is going to be too late to get together any real travel plans to get to the Sanc Kingdom since there are few commercial flights that go there, so we are going to have to take ZERO. I hope you don't mind."

Sakura shook her head from side to side at the notion. "Of course not. It is so fun riding in and piloting your Gundam."

Heero smiled at Sakura and continued explaining his previously determined travel plan. "So you have no problems leaving in two days?"

"Nope," answered Sakura. "That is plenty of time to pack and tell Tomoyo-chan about where I am going."

"She will probably be sad she isn't coming too," said Heero, knowing how much Tomoyo loved to videotape Sakura.

"She is probably preoccupied worrying about making a good impression with Ranma-kun's family. At least she has Eriol-kun going along too." Sakura and Heero continued to talk as they walked out of Sakura's room to find everyone else and let them know that they would be leaving together in a of couple days.

Newport City, Sanc Kingdom

"Welcome back, Heero," Heero heard through Wing ZERO's intercom as he entered Sanc Kingdom airspace. "It's been quite a while since you've been back."

"It is nice to be back, Noin," answered back Heero. "I'm going to be landing on the platform in front of the main gates to the castle in a few minutes."

"Roger. See you soon," said Lucrezia Noin as she hung up the radio. "Heero seems a little different," the beautiful Captain of the Sanc Kingdom Royal Guard said, looking up at the man standing next to her.

"I noticed that as well," said Milliardo Peacecraft, also knows as Zechs Merquise. Milliardo then turned on his heels, long platinum hair flying around to land neatly on his back. "I'll go tell Relena that Heero's arrived. We'll meet you outside."

"You've changed as well," whispered Noin to herself as she watched her husband, the love of her life, walk out the door of the communications center of the Peacecraft Castle. Noin was certain most of the changes in the personality of Zechs were due to their relationship with one another, and she loved the new Zechs just as much as the old one. Noin then remembered Duo saying that Heero had a pretty serious girlfriend in Tokyo, and thought that perhaps it was her that caused the subtle changes in Heero's personality. Noin had thought that perhaps Heero was going to bring along his girlfriend on his trip to the Sanc Kingdom, but guessed she was mistaken since Heero had flown in on Wing ZERO which only had the capacity to seat one. When she realized she had been daydreaming for long enough, Noin got up out of her chair and made her way out to the main landing pad out in front of the castle.

Noin walked out the front entrance to the castle just in time to be greeted with a gust of air from the engines of Wing ZERO as it gracefully landed in the center of the Peacecraft Castle's landing platform. Continuing forward, Noin stopped by the side of her husband who was waiting alongside Princess Relena, who was exceptionally anxious for Heero's return. When the wind ceased and Wing ZERO's engines shut down and the giant machine gracefully took a knee, Relena, Milliardo, and Noin all watched as the cockpit door slid open, and Heero casually stepped out.

"Welcome back, Heero," greeted Relena as soon as she could see Heero's face. "But I thought you said you were bringing a guest? Why did you come in Wing…?" Relena stopped her comment mid sentence when she caught sight of a cute girl stepping somewhat shyly out from the inside of Wing ZERO's cockpit.

Heero did a flip down to the ground from the elevated platform of Wing ZERO's cockpit, landing smoothly in front of Relena, Milliardo, and Noin. Sakura followed Heero's movements exactly, and made a perfect landing right beside her boyfriend. "Relena, Noin, Zechs," began Heero. "This is Kinomoto Sakura. Sakura, this is Princess Relena Peacecraft, Captain Lucrezia Noin, and Milliardo Peacecraft, also known as Zechs Merquise."

"It is an honor to meet you," greeted Sakura with a shy bow, since she had never been in the presence of a Princess before.

"It is a pleasure to meet you finally," answered Relena as she got over her original shock from seeing Sakura unexpectedly step out of ZERO's cockpit.

"We have been looking forward to this for quite some time," added Noin.

"Thank you for allowing me to stay in your country, Your Highness."

"Please just call me Relena," responded Relena with a smile to the nervous auburn haired girl in front of her.

Sakura smiled back at the kindness of the Princess, feeling very relieved that Relena seemed just like any other person and wasn't as intimidating as Sakura thought meeting a Princess might be. Now that she wasn't as nervous, Sakura took a little time to really take a look at the people standing in front of her. In Sakura's mind, Princess Relena was stunning. She was wearing a very elegant white gown that went perfectly with her creamy skin complexion. Her honey brown hair was put up in a intricate bun on top of her head, and was held in place with an enchanting tiara that contrasted perfectly with Relena's beautiful blue eyes. On one side of Relena stood Noin, who was a few years older than the Princess, and Sakura thought was another strikingly beautiful woman. Noin was wearing a blue and white military uniform, but still was distinctly feminine because of her stunning figure. Her hair was almost the same shade of purple as Eriol's, and was cut short but with long bangs that fell lightly across her face. Standing on Relena's other side was her older brother, Milliardo Peacecraft. Milliardo looked dashing a similar style military uniform as Noin, only in red instead of blue. Sakura could tell he had a very toned physique, and mixed with his handsome face and long platinum blonde hair, he looked very good.

"You said your name was Kinomoto, correct?" queried Milliardo who had until now been silent.

"Hai," answered Sakura, a little confused at the questioning tone of voice Milliardo was using.

"You wouldn't happen to be related to Kinomoto Fujitaka, would you?"

"He's my Otousan. How do you know him?"

"Kinomoto-sensei is your father?" repeated Noin in slight disbelief. Sakura just nodded, now feeling very confused at the situation that had just transpired. "Kinomoto-sensei is here in the Sanc Kingdom."

"Otousan is?" gasped Sakura in disbelief. "But he said he was called away on an archeological expedition."

This time it was Relena who spoke up. "We recently came across the ruins of what looks like an ancient city. Kinomoto-sensei was one of the most highly recommended archeologists in the world, so we asked him to come investigate. He just arrived yesterday."

Sakura was now beaming with excitement. She had been a little saddened before when she found out she wouldn't get to see her father for vacation, but now she just found out that not only could she see her father, but she also got to vacation with her boyfriend in a whole new country. "May I ask where Otousan is right now?"

"He should be checking out the site and getting to know the other people he will be working with," answered Noin. "He will be back early this evening, but I can take you to him if you wish."

"Kinomoto-sensei is having dinner with us tonight," continued Relena. "And I would be honored if you and Heero would join us as well."

"That sounds wonderful," accepted Sakura. "Thank you, Princess Relena. And thank you for the offer, Noin-san, but I will just wait for Otousan to get back."

As Sakura continued to talk with Relena and Noin, Milliardo walked over to where Heero was standing off to the side. "Was it wise to modify your Gundam to seat multiple people?" Milliardo more stated than asked.

"I added a single passenger seat to Wing ZERO," answered Heero. "Duo did the same to Deathscythe, and Wu-Fei to Nataku."

"Simply installing an auxiliary seat is easy enough," said Milliardo. "I was referring to the ZERO System. It is not something just anyone can control."

Heero had actually figured what Milliardo had really meant by his earlier question, but didn't particularly want to deal with the issue if he could avoid it. "I agree," conceded Heero. "But Sakura is not just anyone. She is special in quite a number of ways."

Milliardo couldn't control his facial expression from turning to one of shock at Heero's last statement. In all the time he had know Heero, Milliardo had never heard him give such a compliment to anybody. "Noin was right," Milliardo finally said. "You have changed." Heero was caught a little off guard by Milliardo's comment, but as he thought about it, he realized Milliardo was right. He had changed. And he had changed because of only one reason; Sakura.

Heero and Milliardo stood idly by, no longer speaking to each other, just thinking and enjoying seeing the happy faces of Relena, Sakura, and Noin as they talked with one another. After a short while, Heero noticed Sakura glance in his direction, and the two made eye contact with each other for just a second, but it was enough to make Heero smile. Something Sakura didn't realize was exactly how well trained Noin was as a soldier, so when Sakura glanced away from the conversation, Noin followed her gaze to where Heero was standing, and was quite surprised to find a smile on the Gundam pilot's face. "He's smiling?"

Noin's unexpected comment caused Relena to shift her attention to the Captain of her Royal Guard and when she saw the direction Noin was looking, Relena's gaze arrived just in time to see the tail end of Heero's smile before he closed his eyes and his face returned to its normal emotionless state. At seeing Heero's reaction to Noin and Relena noticing his smile, both Relena and Sakura began cracking up in a fit of giggles. _"Sorry, Heero-kun,"_ said Sakura to Heero over their telepathic link. _"But your reaction to Princess Relena and Noin-san seeing you smile was just so funny."_

"_It's okay, Sakura-san," _answered Heero. _"I had already figured Noin and Relena would find my personality changes a surprise."_

"_I noticed that," _said Sakura. _ "They keep asking me how I got you to open up."_

"_What did you tell them?"_

"_The truth. I really have no idea why you chose to open up to me, but I have no complaints about it."_ Heero opened his eyes to Sakura's last comment and allowed the corner of his mouth to rise up in a very slight smile. Sakura noticed the slight smile on Heero's face that he usually used when a smile was necessary and he was in public, and it brought a smile to her own cute face while she continued the conversation with Relena and Noin.

Eventually, Relena, Noin, and Sakura finished talking and Noin showed Heero and Sakura to their rooms while Relena and Milliardo went back to their daily activities. Noin apologized to Sakura for not being able to situate a room near her father's, but the wing where her father was staying was filled with all the other archeological staff, so there were no empty rooms. Instead, Noin put Heero and Sakura in the wing with the rooms that were normally reserved for diplomatic parties visiting the castle. As a result, Sakura and Heero had rooms that were adjacent to each other, and even had a connecting door. When Sakura saw her room, she had been in complete awe. The room was one of the largest bedrooms she had ever been in, and the luxurious feel of the room easily rivaled that of the Li Clan Estate in Hong Kong. The decorative designs were very different from Syaoran's home, but the intricate and sophisticated ornamentation was just as impressive.

Heero and Sakura unpacked their bags, allowing Noin to get back to doing her normal daily routine, before Heero took Sakura on a tour of the castle. Despite knowing it was the capital building of the entire Sanc Kingdom, the absolute grandeur of the Peacecraft Castle was still overwhelming to Sakura. Heero showed her the historical paintings and decorations present throughout the castle, the state of the art technology used in the defensive center, and the beautiful gardens in front and around the castle. Because of the sheer size of the castle and the multitude of things to see, by the time Heero and Sakura finished the tour, it was time for them to get ready for dinner with Relena.

Sakura had asked Noin and Relena to keep it a secret that she was in the Sanc Kingdom from her father so that she could surprise him at dinner, so Sakura and Heero purposely waited a bit so that they would arrive just slightly late. Sakura poked her head into the open door of the elegant dining area where Noin, Milliardo, Relena, and Fujitaka were presently seated, and without letting her father see her, allowed Noin to make their introduction.

"Kinomoto-sensei," began Noin. "Our other two guests that will be joining us for dinner have just arrived." Then with a smile she added, "And one of them, I am sure you will be most excited to see."

Fujitaka turned toward the entranceway and waited to see who the two guests were to be. However, the person he saw standing in the door was the last person he had expected to see. "Sakura?"

"Otousan!" cheered Sakura as she raced up to give her extremely surprised father a tight hug. "I missed you."

"I missed you too honey," said Fujitaka more out of reflex than as a response that came from his brain. Fujitaka eventually got over his utter shock and returned the embrace with his loving daughter. "How did you know I was here?" he asked when Sakura let go from around his neck.

"I didn't," answered Sakura. "I came here with Heero-kun, and when we arrived Princess Relena told me that you were here. By the way, Otousan, this is Heero Yuy."

Heero took one step forward and stretched out a hand to his girlfriend's father. "It is an honor to meet you sir," Heero said politely. Normally he wouldn't have bothered with much in the way of an introduction, but he didn't want to offend Sakura's father, and it didn't feel quite as uncomfortable for him to be social as it used to.

"It is a pleasure to meet you finally, Yuy-kun," answered Fujitaka as he shook hands with Heero. "Sakura has told me a lot about you."

"Now that everyone has been introduced," said Relena in her always calm, yet regal tone of voice. "Shall we sit down to eat?" Everyone nodded their heads, and Sakura and Heero sat down in the two open spots at the table.

The meal was a beautiful spread of culinary delicacies, and was enjoyed with pleasant conversations about everything ranging from Heero and Sakura's schooling and relationship, to the dig site Fujitaka was working on. By the time the meal was over, Fujitaka had already decided to himself that Heero would take good care of his daughter, and he very much liked the boy. He never said as much out loud, but based on his interactions with Heero, Sakura could tell her father liked her boyfriend, and that fact brought a smile to her face. When dinner and conversation was finished, everybody said their goodnights and headed to their respective rooms to get some rest.

After laying in bed for an hour, staring at the ceiling trying to fall asleep, Sakura finally realized that she couldn't. It wasn't that she wasn't tired, but she just didn't feel quite comfortable sleeping all alone in the beautiful room on the plush, spacious bed. Carefully slipping out from under the warm covers, Sakura quietly made her way through the door adjoining her and Heero's rooms. "Heero-kun?" whispered Sakura into the darkness.

"_Hai, Sakura-san,"_ answered Heero telepathically to make sure nobody heard if there happened to be another guest in the room next door. _"I'm awake."_

"_I can't sleep,"_ Sakura said.

"_I know,"_ came the response from Heero as he sat up in the bed. _"I could feel that you were uncomfortable in the room, although I couldn't quite discern why."_

"_You could feel I was uncomfortable?" _asked Sakura quizzically

"_Hai."_ As Heero continued, he pulled open his covers to allow Sakura to get in. _"I have been able to feel some of your emotions very faintly for some time now. I have a feeling that you would be able to as well if my own emotions were more distinct."_

"_What other emotions of mine can you feel?"_ asked Sakura as she slid into Heero's bed and nestled against his the warmth provided by his body.

"_I can feel when you are happy, confused, nervous, and bored. I haven't come across a time yet when you have felt sad or afraid, and hopefully I can prevent you from ever having to feel those emotions."_

Sakura pulled Heero into a tight, loving embrace with their bodies melding together and gave Heero a long passionate kiss for his kindness and caring. "Thanks, Heero-kun," whispered Sakura before she fell into a very peaceful slumber listening to Heero's heartbeat with her head on his chest.

Heero bent his head down carefully and gave Sakura a light kiss on the top of her head before falling asleep himself, looking forward to the pleasant dreams he had been having of late with Sakura in his life for years to come.

Author's Notes:

I know I said I was going to update my other two stories before continuing this one, but it is so hard to write the other two and I do enjoy writing this one most. So anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this latest installment of CCS: The Next Quest, and I would appreciate and reviews you would care to leave. Just so you all know, I know it seems at this point like this chapter will only involve Heero and Sakura, but I plan to include a section dealing with some, if not all, of the other characters' vacations as well. Hope you enjoy and thanks again to everyone who reviewed any of the previous sections!


	41. Sakura Goes to the Sanc Kingdom Part II

Author's Notes:

I know I usually put my notes at the end of sections, but this section took me so long to upload that I felt I should say what I needed to say before you started reading. Anyway, first of all I want to apologize to people for taking so long to update my fic. School has been killer so I haven't had much time to write. Also, this section doesn't really flow with the one directly previous to it, since they are in totally different scenarios, but since I wrote this before finishing up the stuff taking place in Hong Kong with Syaoran and Ami, I decided to just post this. In the future I may change the ordering of these sections, but for now, this is how it is going to be. Please enjoy this latest section, and I'll try to update as soon as possible, but I can't guarantee it'll be as soon as I want. Bye!

Sanc Kingdom, The Next Morning

"Here's the site," said Noin as she came to a stop a few yards from the edge of a cliff. "Your father is supervising the crew that has been down there for a number of months so far."

"Thank you, Noin-san," said Sakura as she and Heero jumped out of the back of the jeep. "Are you sure you can't come down with us to look at the site?"

"I appreciate the offer, but I have a lot of work to do back at the castle." After Heero and Sakura had exited the vehicle, Noin restarted the engine. "Say hi to your father for me."

"Hai," answered Sakura with a smile. After watching Noin drive away, Sakura and Heero turned around and carefully wound their way down the path cut into the side of the cliff, down toward the floor of the site.

"Sakura-san!" heard Sakura faintly as she and Heero reached the bottom of the ravine where the ruins had been discovered. The two teens scanned the area until they spotted the waving hand of Sakura's father in the near distance.

"Otousan!" greeted Sakura as she ran up and gave her father a tight hug around the neck. "This place is really neat."

"I'm glad you like it honey," said Fujitaka. "It's good to see you Yuy-kun. I trust you had no problems getting down here?"

"Not at all," answered Sakura. "The path is really easy to follow."

"Good. Come on, I'll show you around the site." Sakura's father led the couple towards the center of the archaeological site, but unfortunately the three didn't get very far before one of Professor Kinomoto's staff came running up saying he needed his help. "I'm sorry, Sakura-san, but I have to take care of this. But both of you feel free to look around."

"Hai," answered Sakura. "We'll see you later Otousan." Sakura's father kissed his daughter on the forehead to say goodbye before following his staff toward the problem area.

While Professor Kinomoto was busy working with his new staff, Heero and Sakura took it upon themselves to tour the ruins of the ancient city. The couple walked around the massive site, hand in hand, marveling at the many buildings. Heero was amazed that such an old city had been preserved for so long without all the details and intricate carvings eroding away. Sakura didn't view the great city in quite as practical a manner as Heero. To Sakura, the beauty of the architecture, engravings, and numerous statues, intrigued her. She was completely enchanted by the ancient art and found herself picturing in her mind what the magnificent city had looked like when it was bustling with people and basking in the beauty of the living nature around it. Sakura got so caught up in picturing the past that she actually closed her eyes to make it easier to visualize.

When Sakura closed her eyes to envision what the city had looked like in the past, she unconsciously raised her magical awareness at the same time. This was the reason she felt the presence of a Clow Card. Because the feeling was still very faint, it didn't really surprise Sakura when she felt it. As a result, Sakura calmly opened her closed eyes. "There's a Clow Card near here," she said to Heero, who had been watching Sakura as she enjoyed the tranquility of being in the magnificent ruins.

Heero closed his eyes and raised his magical awareness in an attempt to feel what Sakura had accidentally discovered. A moment later, Heero reopened his eyes. "Your right," he said. "But close your eyes and concentrate on the feeling for a little longer."

Sakura gave Heero a quizzical look, wondering what he could be thinking, but did what he said without question. When Sakura closed her eyes again, she immediately picked up the Clow Card, but a couple seconds later she lost it. She was about to complain to Heero that the presence disappeared when it suddenly came back. A little later it disappeared again only to reemerge moments after. This pattern continued until Sakura opened her eyes to talk to Heero. "It's almost as if the Card is trying to hide."

"My thoughts exactly," agreed Heero. "It may be difficult to track down this Clow Card without arousing suspicion in all the people working down here."

"Usually in a situation like this I use Sleep so that everyone falls asleep and we don't have to worry about them," said Sakura.

"That might be dangerous," answered Heero. "There are a lot of people working in precarious positions around the site, and if they fell asleep a lot of them could get injured."

"I was thinking the same thing," said Sakura. "That's why I didn't use it right away. But I could use the Time Card and freeze everybody while we search."

"I don't think that will work," responded Heero. "According to you and Li, Time uses a lot of energy, and since it may take a long while to find the Card, you should be at full strength when we encounter it."

Sakura had to agree with Heero on the issue, but she didn't really feel dejected that her plan wouldn't work since Heero always had a way of phrasing his suggestions in a way that never hurt her feelings. Instead she just concentrated harder on thinking up a new plan. Both Sakura and Heero were beginning to get frustrated as they sat on the front steps of what appeared to have once been a very nice house. Neither of them could think of a plan to discern where the Clow Card could be located and it was getting annoying. Sakura got so irritated that she flopped onto her back and looked up at the beautiful buildings around her. Once again, she began to daydream, envisioning what life must have been like back when the city was in full bloom. Her vision was so clear that she almost felt like she was actually in the past, living amongst the occupants of the once great city. Suddenly the rational part of Sakura's mind took control, snapping her out of her reverie and back to the present, but now Sakura was pretty sure where the Clow Card was.

"I think the Clow Card is near that main city square," she said so suddenly that she actually surprised Heero a bit.

"What makes you think that?" questioned Heero while watching Sakura sit back up.

"Well, whenever I let my mind wander, it always creates a very vivid dream of what this city was like back when it was still lively," started Sakura. "I didn't really think much of it because it was a beautiful dream, but now that I have put my mind to it, I realized that my vision was much too detailed to be just my imagination at work. So I think it is the Clow Card that is affecting my mind, and the first time I noticed the visions was when we walked through the city square." When Sakura finished explaining herself she looked up to see Heero smiling at her. "What?" she asked in confusion.

Heero slowly shook his head from side to side. "Nothing," he said. "You just never cease to amaze me." Sakura blushed and looked away from Heero's stare, a response to which Heero laughed and kissed Sakura lightly on the head. He then stood up and reached out a hand to Sakura. "Come on my beautiful cherry blossom. Let's go."

Sakura gently grasped Heero's hand and with his help, stood up. She was still blushing profusely both from Heero's compliment and his use of her pet name, but Sakura looked Heero right in the eye and gave him a long passionate kiss. "Thanks, Heero-kun. I'm all set."

Heero gave Sakura another kiss for good luck, and then the couple took off at a quick run pace and headed back toward the main square. It wasn't too great of a distance back to the square, so in no time at all, Heero and Sakura arrived at their destination. "Can you feel the Card?" Heero asked.

"No," answered Sakura. "It must still be hiding."

Just as Sakura was saying the Card was still hiding, it decided to show its presence in a strong way. The magical presence of the Clow Card skyrocketed to become so powerful that it actually caused physical pain to Heero and Sakura because of their heightened magical senses. The pain was so excruciating that they fell to the ground with hands on their heads in a futile attempt to drown some of it out. While both Sakura and Heero were feeling about the same amount of pain, Heero had a much higher tolerance for such things, so he was handling the situation a lot better than Sakura. Heero managed to open his eyes and turned around in an attempt to see how Sakura was doing. Sakura was lying on her side, body curled into a ball, with her eyes tightly squeezed shut with tears falling down her cheeks, trying to find a way to cope with the extreme pain she was feeling. Her mind-state of complete panic and despair changed a bit when she felt a pair of strong arms around her, and a familiar aura surrounding her body. When Heero had seen Sakura in so much pain, he immediately went to her and held her close. He allowed his magical presence to surround the Card Mistress in an attempt to shift at least some of her pain onto himself. As soon as Heero had pulled her into his embrace, Sakura had immediately begun to feel less pain. It was still present, but was now at a level just bearable enough for her to slowly open her eyes. Unfortunately for her, Sakura opened her eyes just in time to see a blinding white light that was so bright it forced both Heero and herself to cover their faces to protect their eyes. The light was just the physical representation of yet another surge in the Clow Card's power. This time, the pain caused by the increase in magical energy was so strong that it broke through even Heero's pain tolerance level, causing both Clow Masters to pass into the world of unconsciousness. Had either Heero or Sakura been able to withstand the unimaginable levels of pain, they would have seen the entire area warp around them; the trees, buildings, and scenery all changed until it was almost unrecognizable that they were even in the same place.

By the time Heero awoke, the episode was over and the magical presence of the Clow Card had vanished, so he took a moment to survey the surroundings. The first thing Heero noticed was that it was now night, and no longer the afternoon with the hot sun overhead. He was obviously in a place he had never been before, but the area felt familiar for a reason he couldn't quite determine. Instead of dwelling on his surroundings for very long, Heero turned his attention to the unconscious girl lying in his lap that he cared so strongly for. Heero gave her a light kiss on the forehead while gently running a hand through her silky hair and along her soft cheek. "Sakura-san," Heero whispered. "Sakura-san."

Sakura stirred slightly from her comfortable resting position and a few moments later her eyes fluttered open to reveal her lovely innocent green orbs. She spent a while just looking at Heero's handsome face, until the recent events that had taken place returned to her memory. She quickly sat up when she realized she no longer felt the Clow Card's presence and looked around. "How long was I sleeping?" Sakura asked when she noticed it was night.

"I'm not sure," responded Heero. "I regained consciousness only shortly before you. It seems we were transported somewhere and must have been out for quite a while."

"I know this place," commented Sakura as she looked around. Heero just watched Sakura look around and patiently waited for her to continue. "I don't think we were transported anywhere. I think we got sent back through time."

Heero considered what Sakura was suggesting and took another look around. He quickly realized why the area felt so familiar. He and Sakura were sitting in the exact same place in the ruins as before, only the ruins were no longer ruins. Instead, the area was surrounded by beautifully crafted architecture and blooming plant life.

"This place looks exactly like the visions I was having earlier," said Sakura. "Except in my dream, there were a lot of people around. I guess since it is night, everyone is asleep."

The two Clow Card Masters stood up, but staggered around for a moment before regaining their balance. Apparently there were a few small side effects between their minds and bodies due to the time traveling. Standing up had also made apparent how clouded their magical senses had been, for the simple act of standing up and waiting to regain their balance had also retuned their senses to the area. The most noticeable thing to both Heero and Sakura after they were righted was the strong residual magical presence all around them. It was obviously not a Clow Card, since the feeling was completely different, but the overall strength of the magic felt quite strong. This fact made the couple a little wary of their situation, so they decided it would probably be better to leave the main areas of the city until the daytime when it would likely be more crowded. They figured they would draw less attention during the day amongst the population and thus avoid any quarrels with the strong magic power.

Heero and Sakura had found their way to a large tree on the outskirts of the city and Sakura cuddled into Heero's body, who was leaning against the trunk of the tree, and the couple prepared to wait out the rest of the night. Sakura, who had found a comfortable and warm position in Heero's embrace, quickly fell asleep, but Heero purposely stayed awake the entire night to keep watch.

At daybreak the following day, Sakura slowly woke and opened her eyes to find the deep blue eyes of Heero staring down at her. "The sun is just coming up if you want to watch it rise," said Heero as he gently brushed a few strands of hair out of Sakura's face.

Sakura pulled her head up to give Heero a good morning kiss, before getting up into a sitting position with her back resting on Heero's chest to watch the sky change to a beautiful reddish orange glow. After a little while, Sakura turned her head around to face her boyfriend. "Did you sleep at all last night?" she asked.

Heero shook his head slowly from side to side. "No. Since we are in an unknown environment I stayed awake to keep watch."

"Are you sure you will be alright without any sleep?" Sakura asked, concerned.

"I'll be fine," Heero answered. "I promise."

Sakura wasn't totally convinced, but she trusted Heero's judgment. "So what's the plan? We can't just stay here forever."

"I agree we can't stay here," responded Heero. "The best place to go is probably the city, but with our clothes we will definitely stand out."

"What if we ask the Remove Card to find some clothes and bring them to us?" asked Sakura.

"I was thinking of that," said Heero. "But releasing a Clow Card puts out a strong magical signal and I don't want to attract that power we sensed last night."

"We could sneak into the city and get some clothes on our own," suggested Sakura.

"That is probably our best option," agreed Heero. "Just follow my lead. Since this is the past there is no security technology so this should be a snap."

"Hai," said Sakura with a nod of her head.

Heero nodded back to Sakura and the couple got up off the ground and started back toward the city. Heero made sure to avoid any well worn paths as he crept through the brush with Sakura right on his heels. Neither Clow Card Master made any noise as they snuck from tree to tree and bush to bush, slowly inching closer to the city.

"_Can you feel that?"_ asked Heero through his mind.

"_Hai,"_ responded Sakura. _"It's the same feeling from last night. It's strong, but I can't pinpoint a source."_

"_It feels almost as if the source is all around us," _finished Heero. _"It makes it difficult to determine what path is best to avoid whatever is putting out the signal."_

"_I trust your instincts," _said Sakura. _"Just lead the way and I'll follow."_ Sakura watched Heero turn around just briefly and give her a smile before setting off again. Sakura said she would follow Heero, and follow Heero she did. She copied his movements perfectly as they jumped from one hiding spot to the next. She followed him all the way until he stopped at the edge of a small open field.

"Look over there," whispered Heero. Sakura looked across the field when Heero was pointing at a fairly small, but beautiful, structure. Sakura guessed it was some type of residence but wasn't 100 percent sure. She did understand, however, why Heero had chosen the house as the target. It was isolated just enough from the main city that they would probably not be noticed sneaking around, plus it had a large tree growing right alongside it that could provide a means to jump into a number of the open window holes in the building. The only problem Sakura could see was that to reach the structure, they would have to run across the open field surrounding it.

"Think we can make it without being spotted?" queried Sakura.

"I don't see anyone around, and the house looks fairly docile, so if we move quickly I think we can make it," answered Heero. "Shall we give it a try?"

Sakura nodded her head and got in position to follow Heero into the open field.

"Now," said Heero as both he and Sakura took off in a dead sprint toward the house. They were about halfway across the field when a bright light flashed in front of them, causing Heero and Sakura to falter and stop. As the white light disappeared it was replaced by two figures. Each was cloaked and hooded in a different color. One was dressed in white and the other in black. The white figure had its staff raised and its eyes closed indicating it was likely the caster of the teleportation spell. Moments later another white light flashed and a similar group of white and black cloaked figures appeared. Each group moved slightly so that one group was positioned to the right of Heero and Sakura and the other to the left.

Meanwhile, Heero and Sakura were trying to determine how these wizards had found them, and also what they should do now that they had been discovered. However, their thoughts didn't get far, before a third and final bright light appeared between the two groups of mages, directly in front of the two Clow Masters. This third light was substantially brighter and covered more area than the first two and also had a bluish tint to it. When the light subsided, three figures were present in its place. The center figure, who apparently had been the caster of the teleportation spell, clearly looked to be the most powerful of the group. It also turned out that this wizard was a beautiful young looking woman dressed in a blue gown trimmed in gold with a sparkling tiara holding in place flowing blonde hair. She was flanked on either side by two more wizards, each cloaked in red.

"What do we do, Heero-kun?" asked Sakura, who was getting worried since none of the faces staring at her looked very friendly.

Before Heero could respond to Sakura, the blue robed magician spoke herself. "We knew it would be just a matter of time before someone came to help Reis. You two will give up immediately or be destroyed here and now." To emphasize the blue wizard's point, each white mage held their staff up and began a cant, each black mage cast a small spell that caused the tip of one of the wizard's rods to light on fire, and the other to become lighting, and the two red wizards each drew swords and looked as if they were preparing for battle.

"Who is Reis?" Sakura asked Heero. In reality she knew Heero wouldn't know, but the current situation had he so scared that she wasn't really thinking straight. What Sakura didn't realize was that Heero could very clearly sense her uneasiness over the situation. He very gently placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down a bit.

"I don't know who this Reis is, but it doesn't look as if these people are in the mood to talk it out." Heero then grasped his pendant and motioned for Sakura to do the same. "Ready?"

The gentle hand on her shoulder and the completely composed demeanor of Heero had calmed Sakura immensely. As she grasped her Clow Key, her response to Heero was in a calm and collected voice. "Hai."

"Key that Hides the Power of the Stars/Space. Show Your True Self to Me. I Sakura/Heero Command You Under Contract. Release!"

Simultaneously, Heero and Sakura's keys transformed into their Clow items, and the couple got into ready positions and awaited the imminent attack. "So that's your answer?" said the blue wizard rhetorically. "So be it. Kill them!"

The first actions came from the two white wizards. Each magician cast a magical focus spell on each of the two black magicians in order to increase the power of their attacks. Immediately following the power-up, the black mages attacked.

"Burn amongst the fires of Hell. Flare!"

"Be struck down by the showers from Heaven. Bolt!"

Simultaneously with the attacks by the black wizards, the red magicians unleashed attacks of their own.

"Feel the weight of Earth's fury. Stone!"

"Drown in the Ocean's wrath. Flood!"

Heero and Sakura could feel that the power of the four attacks combined was immense, but the couple was also very aware of their own combined strength and so they stood their ground.

"Shield!"

"Wall!"

The couple's two defense Cards released from their Card confines and, already know what their masters wanted, immediately combined together to form a powerful defensive shield. The four incoming attacks all impacted the Wall and Shield barrier within milliseconds of each other, but each attack was either absorbed or deflected completely by the combined power of Heero and Sakura's Cards. With their Masters safe and unharmed, the Wall and Shield Cards returned to the hands of Heero and Sakura.

Needless to say, all the wizards were quite surprised that the two oddly dressed teens had been able to so easily neutralize the powerful attack. The blue magician was the only one who was not completely stunned by the power of Heero and Sakura. She was substantially more powerful and more experienced than the other wizards with her, so her abilities had allowed her to sense more of the depth of the power of the two trespassing teenagers. She was not particularly surprised that the couple's defensive power had defeated her troop of wizards' offensive attack, but she had been a bit startled that they had done so without even the slightest bit of the attack breaking through their shield. Had she been in their place, she was fairly certain she could have deflected the majority of the attack, but more likely than not, some residual energy would still get through her defense. She figured the only way they could have managed such a strong defense was if they specialized in defensive magic, and therefore probably weren't very strong offensively.

Unfortunately for the wizard, Heero and Sakura's next move proved her theory very wrong. Without hesitation, the two Clow Masters recalled their defensive cards and started their counter-attack. "Thunder!" called out Sakura as she released one of her attack cards. The lightning beast roared loudly before flying full speed toward the blue magician and her two red mage bodyguards. At the same time, Heero pulled out and released the Tsunami attack card. The giant water based Clow Card split into two on Heero's command, with each half rushing toward one set of black and white mages.

When they saw the approaching attacks, all seven magicians raised a small magical bubble around themselves to attempt to fend off the incoming power. Unfortunately for them, however, Heero and Sakura's attack cards were just too powerful. The first attack to impact was Heero's Tsunami Card. Both halves impacted the two groups of black and white magicians simultaneously with extreme force. The shields erected by the magicians did protect them for a second, but were not nearly strong enough to defend against the Clow Card. In no time at all, the Tsunami Card broke through all the magical bubbles, and effectively disabled the four mages by literally washing them off the battlefield and leaving them unconscious on the floor of the surrounding forest. Merely a split second after the Tsunami Card impacted, Sakura's Thunder Card exploded upon the protective barriers of the blue and the two red mages. The force of the explosion sent the red mages flying through the air until they unceremoniously landed on the nearby ground, but the attack wasn't quite strong enough to penetrate the blue wizard's defenses. The shield constructed by the blue magician was substantially more powerful than those of her underlings, and it had been able to effectively reflect the incoming lightning bolts away from the caster.

When the attack stopped, the blue magician lowered her shield and took a look around at her troupe of unconscious mages before staring back at Heero and Sakura with a frown. "You win this round," she spat out. "But we will defeat Reis, and I promise to take care of you two personally." Then with a snap of her fingers, the entire area lit up a bright white, and in an instant the blue magician and all six of her followers vanished from the scene.

After the commotion was finally finished, Heero and Sakura looked to each other in confusion. "What is going on here?" Sakura asked, even though she was certain Heero didn't have any idea, but just needed to voice her sense of being completely lost.

"I'm not sure," answered Heero. "But it looks like we've gotten in the middle of some type of dispute."

"So what do we do?" asked Sakura. "We don't even know how to get home, or what we got in the middle of, and that strong magical presence is still out there." As she was talking, Sakura's body started trembling and her eyes began to water.

"Shh," consoled Heero as he gently pulled Sakura in close to his body and allowed her to cry softly in his chest. "I promise you that we'll find a way home. Plus, I don't think we actually have to worry about the magical presence." When Heero said this, Sakura looked up at him with eyes that still had tears in them, but were more curious than anything else. Heero gently brushed the tears from his girlfriend's face and continued. "I think the presence we have been feeling is actually a culmination of many magical presences. It seems as though this age is full of magicians, and I have a hunch that since we are not used to being around such a large number of people with magical power, that our senses are simply lumping it all together as a single source. That is why we haven't been able to identify a position."

"You are exactly correct," said a voice from behind Heero. He immediately spun around and pointed his sword at the offender, in preparation for an attack. The stranger didn't flinch at Heero's quick switch to hostility, but instead calmly lifted one hand to show he meant no harm. "Please," he continued. "I am not here to fight you. In fact I was hoping you would come with me and I might be able to help explain the situation."

"What makes you think you can trust us?" asked Heero.

"Because I have been expecting you," answered the man. "You are the two Clow Masters."

This incited an obvious look of shock on both Sakura and Heero's faces. They both stared at the stranger, looking for some type of reaction, but he simply stood by with his unwavering gaze. "Who are you?" Sakura finally asked.

"My name is Reis. Reis Reed."


	42. Sakura Goes to the Sanc Kingdom Part III

Author's Notes:

Well, I have definitely decided to take the section with Syaoran and Ami and make it into a separate chapter, but I don't want to do it yet, so I'll get to it later. Anyway, this is my latest installment of Next Quest, hope you enjoy. It is mostly filled with explanations to make future scenarios possible, but I hope it doesn't seem too boring. Well, as always, please review if you read this and hopefully the next part will be up soon!

Sanc Kingdom

"Reis……Reed?" stuttered Sakura.

Reis made a very slight nod of his head. "Please, if you would follow me, we have much to discuss." Not even waiting for an answer, Reis turned around and started to regally walk back toward his house. Heero and Sakura could only stare in disbelief at the retreating back of the stranger who introduced himself as a member of the Reed family. Both had a bunch of questions in their minds, and weren't quite sure if they should trust Reis, but they determined they had no other real options and so they slowly followed him toward his home. As they got closer to their destination, both Sakura and Heero began to feel a strange magical energy. Neither of them could place precisely where the feeling was coming from, nor figure out exactly what the feeling was. It didn't take long before it became obvious to the couple where the energy they were feeling was coming from. A few feet from the house, Reis came to a stop, closed his eyes, and placed his hand in front of him. His palm radiated a slight golden color until suddenly an opaque dome could be seen surrounding the area. It flickered for just a moment before a person sized hole in the dome opened in front of Reis' position. Keeping his glowing hand at the hole's opening, Reis opened his eyes, moved to the side, and motioned to Heero and Sakura. "Please enter. We can talk inside."

Heero and Sakura were still feeling a little apprehension at the situation, so were quite wary as they approached the protective dome. However, since they had no other real options available to them, the two teens cautiously walked through the opening and then followed Reis to his home after he closed the barrier behind them. As they entered Reis' residence, the first thought that came to Sakura's mind was how nice his home was. The furniture and decorations were beautiful, with nothing being overly extravagant, but the most noticeable thing about the place was the feeling she got when standing inside it. Maybe it was the enchanting artwork on the walls, or perhaps it was the residual magical energy encompassing the area, but the second she stepped through the front door, she instantly felt much more at ease.

"Please have a seat," said Reis as he motioned toward a simple yet comfortable looking couch. "I will bring you some tea and then I promise to explain everything I can."

As Reis retreated to the kitchen, Heero and Sakura made their way to the offered seat, finally recalling their weapons in the process. "Do you think we can trust him?" questioned Sakura.

"I'm not sure," answered Heero. "But he did know about us being the Clow Card Masters, and based on his family name, it sounds as though he may be related to Clow, so while we may not be able to trust him, we should at least hear what he has to say."

"I am glad you feel that way," heard Heero and Sakura from their left. They turned their heads to find Reis holding a tray of tea along with some milk and sugar and some tea cookies. It was the second time Reis had snuck up on them, and Heero couldn't help but be a little impressed at the man's stealth abilities. "With the amount of power you two have, it would be very dangerous if you were overly trusting or overly critical." Reis put down the tray he was holding and took a seat opposite Sakura and Heero. "Now, what would you like to know first?"

Heero and Sakura glanced briefly at each other, silently deciding what to ask first. "First of all," began Heero. "How did you know who we are?"

"I believe I can answer that," interrupted a striking elegant woman with long black hair and beautiful pale skin. She rounded the corner and entered the room carrying what looked to be a bundle of blankets or sheets in her arms.

"This is my wife, Ayla," introduced Reis.

"As I was saying," continued Ayla. "The reason my husband knew your titles were because of me. I come from a family prominently known for our magical powers of vision and time. Very recently, I saw in my dreams the appearance of two stars from the future, bearing the titles of Masters of the Clow Cards."

"Based on your family name," said Sakura. "It sounds as though you may be related to Clow. Is that how you knew what the Clow Cards are?"

"Actually, we don't really know what the Clow Cards are," answered Reis. "But after watching your battle, I believe I can guess."

"And as for Clow Reed himself," resumed Ayla. "There is someone I would like to introduce you to." Ayla carefully pulled one blanket from her bundle to the side, and to Heero and Sakura's surprise, a young child was peacefully sleeping in the beautiful woman's arms. "I would like to introduce you to my son, Clow Reed."

Again, for the countlessth time, Heero and Sakura found themselves speechless. In all the possible scenarios they had conceived in their minds, none had come close to the truth. "How old is he?" asked Sakura as the initial shock began to wear off and she realized how cute baby Clow looked.

"Almost two weeks," answered Ayla. "Would you like to hold him?"

Sakura's eyes lit up at the prospect. Like most girls, Sakura loved babies. "Can I?"

Ayla smiled warmly at the bright eyed teenager, and carefully passed over her sleeping son, watching Sakura gently cradle baby Clow Reed in her arms against her chest. Sakura smiled down at the still sleeping baby as he grabbed two small fistfuls of Sakura's shirt and cuddled up to the warmth of Sakura's body. "By the way," said Sakura as she looked up from Clow. "Who were those people that attacked us?"

"They are the King's sorcerers," answered Reis. "The leader, the Blue Magician, is named Nadia. She is powerful, but has yet to reach her full potential. The others with her are some of her underlings. Individually they are not nearly as powerful as Nadia, but they have a lot of experience, both individually and as a team, making them very dangerous. Also under the King's command is another attack magician, the Green Magician, and the Yellow Magician, who has similar powers to that of my wife."

"You seem to know a lot of details about these magicians," commented Heero when Reis paused in his explanations.

"That is because I used to be the King's Blue Magician," answered Reis. "Nadia was my apprentice, and a very good one too. She has so much potential, and was learning and progressing at an ever increasing pace, which is why she became my replacement, despite the fact that she is young and still less powerful than the Green Magician."

"Why did you stop being the Blue Magician?" questioned Sakura.

"It sounds as though your work was not yet complete," continued Heero.

"I do not miss my position as head of the King's sorcerers," said Reis. "However, I would have liked to finish training Nadia. Her powers could very likely have surpassed my own, something that would have made me very proud. As for why I left, that will take a little explaining." Reis paused shortly before continuing his explanations. "Before I explain why I had to leave my duties, it sounds as though sorcerers, and even magic in general, are a rarity in your world. As you can see, that is not the case here. Magic is such commonplace in this time, we created a scale for how powerful someone is. There are eight different magic classes: N, D, F, C, B, A, S, and Z. The N class is where the majority of people fall. It is basically the population that has no magic potential. The D class is the group who have at least some docile magic potential, but have not yet developed or shown any of it. This class consists mostly of young children who have not yet begun any training. The F and C classes are considered on an even field, but their powers are substantially different. The F class magicians aren't really magicians. They are actually physical fighters who use their limited abilities to enhance their fighting skills. The C class is filled with magicians with relatively low magical power, and can mostly only use their magic to perform simple healing techniques and limited telekinetic abilities. The B, A, and S classes are all filled with sorcerers that can perform many types of abilities. The B class is more powerful than both the C and F classes, and A is stronger than B, and S is more powerful than A. I, myself, are considered a middle ranked S class, while Nadia is somewhere around a high A, and her troop of magicians are all probably varying levels of B."

"What rank are you, Ayla-san?" questioned Sakura.

"Like my husband, I am considered an S class magician," answered Ayla. "However, within the S class itself, Reis is substantially higher than I."

"This still doesn't explain why you wouldn't stay the Blue Magician," said Heero.

"There is a single law in this time that is more important and more strictly enforced than anything else," responded Reis. "This law states that under absolutely no circumstances are two S class magicians to ever conceive a child."

"And as you know," continued Ayla. "We broke this rule and had our son, Clow."

"Needless to say," said Reis. "After being the first ones to break this sacred rule, we could no longer stay in the King's service."

"Why did you put yourselves at so much risk?" questioned Sakura with a look of sympathy on her face.

"I love my wife," answered Reis. "I am willing to take on any danger and hardships to be with her."

"Why aren't two S class magicians allowed to have a child?" asked Heero.

"I know you noticed that I said there were eight magic classes," said Reis as he looked at Heero. "But I have only explained seven of them so far." Heero nodded. "The last class is the Z class. This level of power not only doesn't exist as of yet, but is also forbidden to ever exist in the future."

"There is an ancient legend," said Ayla, "That says a person with a power level that high will create an imbalance in the world. Not just an imbalance of political strength, but an actual imbalance in the space and time surrounding the world itself."

"There are two directions the imbalance can go," continued Reis. "The way of good, or the way of evil. A sorcerer with such power on the side of good would be a great asset to the world, however, in all likeliness, a true Z class sorcerer would walk the path of evil."

"Evil is the easier path for any sorcerer to walk," explained Ayla. "The more power a magician possesses, the stronger the pull to the dark world is. Every sorcerer who can finally pass the barrier between being an A class to becoming an S class must face what we call the Trial of Darkness. Unfortunately, very few magicians manage to pass the test, which is why S class magicians are a rarity in the world. The Trial itself is an internal struggle between the heart, the mind, and the spirit. To reach the S class, one must find a way to unite all three governing powers over one's magic."

"The easiest way to pass the trial is to force the heart, mind, and spirit down the path of darkness and destruction. I'm sure you can guess the result of that. The other way is to go down the path of good. This is extraordinarily difficult compared to the way of evil, and takes most people years to complete the journey. Based on the difficulty of passing between the A and S levels, it can only be that much harder and more dangerous to reach class Z."

"Before you ask your next question," interjected Ayla. "May I ask the two of you a question of my own?"

"Of course," answered Sakura. "You both have been very helpful by answering our questions."

"I know your titles as Master and Mistress of the Clow Cards," said Ayla. "But I do not know your actual names."

"Oh!" exclaimed Sakura in surprise. "I'm sorry. My name is Kinomoto Sakura, and this is Heero Yuy."

"Thank you, Kinomoto-san," replied Ayla. "Now, what else would you like to know?"

"Can you tell us what class Sakura and myself would be considered?" asked Heero.

"I have actually been attempting to discern that very fact ever since I met you both," answered Reis. "My magical senses are telling me you both are middle level S class magicians, but being so powerful at such a young age as you two is unheard of. And that isn't even the strangest thing. It also feels as though you both have exactly the same amount of power. Usually only twins are even anywhere close to having the same power levels, but even in that case there is always a noticeable discrepancy. But with the two of you, I don't believe any differences would be found, no matter how closely one looks."

"So what does that signify?" asked Heero.

"In truth, I do not know," answered Reis. "As I said, it is almost inconceivable for two people to have the same power level and type, especially considering you two aren't related by blood. If you are with us long enough, I will try to find some information for you."

"I have a question," voiced Sakura. "How can we be S class magicians if we never faced that Trial you were talking about."

"From what I can sense from you both," said Ayla, "It feels as though your heart, mind, and spirit are all in harmony, and thankfully on the side of good. This means you must have passed the Trial."

"I suppose it is possible you faced the Trial and didn't even realize it," thought Reis aloud. "Try to think back. Was there ever a time when you had to change or increase your power just through concentration?"

Sakura and Heero both tried to recall all their magical escapades, trying to determine which situation fit with Reis' parameters. Despite the fact that Sakura had much more experience in dealing with magic, Heero was actually the one who first figured out the point in time they each became S class sorcerers. "It was when we first changed a Clow Card to be driven off our own power," stated Heero. "I have only been doing magic for six or seven months, but I'm sure that was it."

"You haven't been trained in magic since birth?" exclaimed Reis, showing a look of complete disbelief on his previously unreadable face. "How could you have reached S after only training for seven months?"

"Actually," said Heero. "If I really am correct about when I faced the S class ordeal, I became an S class magician after training for about three months."

"And I faced my Trial about seven years ago, when I was still eleven years old," added Sakura.

"So you became an S level magician by age eleven," confirmed Ayla while looking at Sakura. She then turned her head toward Heero. "And you after training for only three months." Heero and Sakura both nodded. Ayla just smiled at the couple. "You two are quite amazing."

"And quite a puzzle," interrupted Reis. "The two of you have defied a number of magical laws. Before you, time travel through the use of magic was deemed impossible. Time vision is fairly common, but never travel. Secondly is your power comparison. Never before have I seen two powers of exactly the same strength and type in to different individuals. Finally, although I have a feeling I will find more the longer you stay, is your abilities to become S class so easily. If you were from our time, you would already be legends."

"_How ironic," _said Heero to Sakura via their telepathic link. _"To be called a legend, when my whole life I have been taught to do my mission without anyone knowing I was ever involved."_

"_I always had to hide my ability to use magic too," _commented Sakura. _"It is strange being in a world where using magic is simply ordinary."_ To make sure not to offend their hosts by appearing to not be paying attention, Sakura said her next thought aloud. "I wonder if Syaoran and Ami-chan are S class magicians too."

"These two are also powerful magicians?" asked Ayla.

"Hai," answered Sakura. "Li Syaoran of China's Li Clan, and Mizuno Ami, also known as Sailor Mercury."

"You all must be an amazing group in the future," said Ayla with a laugh.

"The Li Clan has probably the largest number of S and A class sorcerers of any family or clan, and your other friend I assume is part of the second generation Senshi."

"The second generation Senshi?" asked Heero.

"Correct. I do not know the extent of the details your friend has explained to you, but the Sailor Senshi are guardians of a world called the Moon Kingdom. The Moon Kingdom is an extraordinary place, full of magical energy, that exists somewhere within the gap between this world and a parallel universe. The Kingdom first passed through the rift into this dimension three generations ago, but unfortunately the Earth thought the powerful and mysterious world was a danger and attacked. Both the Moon and Earth received heavy damages from the war before it ended when the Moon Kingdom drifted back into the gap. Before they left, however, the Queen of the Moon gave an important message to a select few people of the Earth opposed to the war. She said that in two centuries, the Moon Kingdom would again cross into our universe, and hoped these people could keep another war from breaking out when the time came. This is exceedingly important, because this time the Moon's entrance into our dimension will be of a much more permanent nature. This time the time-space of the Moon Kingdom will become permanently linked with our own, creating a single combined universe. She also said that before that time, a second generation of the Moon's most powerful warriors, the Sailor Senshi, would emerge on the Earth. These warriors would contain a spirit from the Moon World, but a body from our world. The purpose of this second generation was never explained, but it was speculated that the merging of a Moon spirit with an Earth body is the first step before the full integration between the two worlds."

"How do you know so much about the Moon Kingdom and the Sailor Senshi?" asked Sakura.

"My ancestor was one of the few people contacted by the Queen," answered Reis. "Ayla's ancestor was actually another one contacted, and I would guess at least one member of the Li Clan must have been told as well."

"That explains why the Li Clan was so accepting of Ami-san," supposed Heero. "I know I have only been associated with the family for a short time, but there are certain aspects of their Clan philosophies that are very easy to determine. The one guide they seem to follow above all else is the privacy of their Clan. The fact that the eldest and wisest of the Clan members were so quick to allow the relationship between Li and Ami-san, and even hinted at marriage and children, showed that there must have been another hidden driving factor behind their actions."

"So you think the Elders liked Ami-chan not only because of her magical potential, like they said, but also to help the cause of avoiding a war?"

Heero nodded. "Plus, if the Moon Kingdom has as much magical energy as it sounds, they probably saw limitless possibilities of the combined powers of the strongest Li family member with a pure spirit of one of the Moon Kingdom's greatest warriors."

"But why didn't they explain all of this to us before?"

"Probably for the sake of your Senshi friend," answered Ayla.

"It is unlikely she knows all the details of her own existence," explained Reis. "And because we don't really know the true reason either, it is probably best if she doesn't know until it is necessary."

"I suppose it could be daunting to find out that not only can you control the powers of the Moon Kingdom, but actually have a spirit from a parallel universe."

"Has your Senshi friend met any of the other second generation Senshi yet?" asked Reis.

"Hai," answered Sakura. "Ami-chan said she met them all in Junior High, about five or six years ago I think. Minako-san, Sailor Venus, also goes to school with us."

"How many other magic users are you friends with in the future?"

"That is it," answered Heero quickly before Sakura could say anything. "Just the five of us, plus the other Senshi." _"Don't tell them about Hiiragizawa," _said Heero to Sakura telepathically. He knew Sakura would be wondering why he lied to Reis and Ayla, so he explained himself. _"Hiiragizawa's situation is too closely related to this time. It is best if they don't know the details of their son's future, including Hiiragizawa, the Guardians, anything we can keep from them about the Clow Cards, and the distant relation between Li and myself with Clow Reed."_

"_Hai, Heero-kun,"_ answered Sakura. _"I will."_

"What are your plans for your situation?" asked Heero to change the subject. "You obviously can't stay here forever."

"Our plan is to leave this Kingdom, and move to England," answered Reis. "While my wife's family is from China, I have family in England who have began a transportation spell that is powerful enough to transport the three of us and some of our important belongings."

"Unfortunately," continued Ayla, "The spell must be completed on our side of the tunnel. The incantation is extremely lengthy and as you know, the King's sorcerers are all watching our every move."

"But you have that protective dome," said Sakura in confusion. "Can't you just do it within the shield?"

"No," answered Ayla with a shake of her head. "In addition to being lengthy and difficult to do correctly, the incantation requires an extreme amount of magical energy to complete. The spell usually is performed by at least half a dozen magicians, but since we have only the two of us, we need all of our combined power to even have a chance at the spell succeeding."

"Maybe we can help with the teleportation spell somehow," offered Sakura.

"That is very kind of you," said Ayla with a smile. "But unfortunately, I don't think it will work. As I said before, the spell is very lengthy and complicated, and since the word order, pronunciation, and timing must be exactly perfect, it takes a substantial amount of time to learn the chant."

"What about lending you power to keep the shield up?"

"Impossible," answered Reis. "The protection spell I used creates a very powerful barrier with minimal energy usage, however, it only works as long as I don't use any magical energy to do anything else."

"How long exactly do you need to complete the tunnel?" asked Heero.

"Two hours to get everything in place, and exactly twenty four minutes and eighteen seconds of unprotected time to complete the chant."

"And how many magicians does the King have available to send to try and stop you?"

"Perhaps three times as many magicians, assuming he doesn't send the palace guard, equaling at least five times as much power."

"What about non-magical forces?"

"The King wouldn't risk sending non-magic users against us," said Reis. "They are too easy to control with a simple spell, and so only pose a problem." Reis paused for a moment and just looked at Heero. "What are you thinking?"

"Twenty-five minutes against five times as much power," said Heero more to himself than anyone else. "You need twenty-five minutes, we'll get you twenty-five minutes. Sakura and I will be your shield."

"You think you can do that?" asked Ayla in surprise.

"_She has a point, Heero-kun," _said Sakura. _"Are you sure we can really defeat that many sorcerers?"_

"_In truth," _replied Heero. _"No."_ Heero's telepathic response completely caught Sakura by surprise as she turned and looked wide eyed at Heero. _"But I don't think we have a choice. These people are all very closely linked to our own existence, so we need to do this both for their sake, and our own futures."_ "We can do it," Heero stated aloud.

"No you can't," countered Reis. "I've felt your energy. I've seen you fight. And you've told us how much experience you have in magic. You don't stand a chance at holding them off for that long without killing yourselves in the process."

"I'm sorry," said Ayla. "But we cannot allow such a risk at our expense."

'You don't really have a choice," stated Heero. "We are your best and only option at the moment. You need us to try."

Ayla looked at her husband, and then back at her guests, and sighed. "You are going to do something no matter how hard we try to stop you, aren't you."

Heero simply nodded his head, while Sakura, who found herself feeling slightly frightened at the situation she found herself in, kept her eyes downcast and held tightly to Heero's hand, showing she would do whatever Heero thought best.

"Then at the very least," said Ayla. "Let us help you a little first."

Sakura raised her gaze when she heard that. "What do you mean?"

"It is easy to tell that despite how powerful you both are already," said Reis, "Neither of you are close to your full potential." This was something Heero and Sakura both already knew thanks to the Li Clan, so they both waited patiently for Reis to continue. "Reaching one's full potential is something every magician must accomplish on their own. However, there is a spell that, for the both of you, should give you at least a small power jump."

"There is a small risk involved with doing this, however," warned Ayla. "You both possess power that is unexplainable by our current knowledge and experience. Because of that, we are not sure how much your power may jump, and you could very well reach a level of magical power neither your body or your mind will be ready for."

"You mean you are worried the boost will push us to the Z class barrier," stated Heero.

Reis nodded. "It is unlikely, but not out of the question."

"Then in that case," said Heero. "Do me first." Heero looked Sakura straight in the eye. "I don't want anything happening to her."

"No," said Sakura. "I will not let you take the risk alone."

"You are much more important to the future than I am," replied back Heero. "You cannot take such a risk."

"Your future is just as important as mine," countered Sakura. "So don't you dare say your future isn't important."

"Please," interrupted Ayla. "Please don't argue."

"It will take a few days for Ayla to prepare you for the spell anyway," said Reis. "In the meantime, make yourselves at home, and feel free to go outdoors, as long as you stay within the protective barrier. Since I cannot use magic while the barrier is up, I will try to find some more information on your second generation Senshi friend."

Heero and Sakura stood and tanked their hosts with a bow, before going outside for some air while Ayla and Reis started working on getting ready for the power increase spell.

"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan," said Heero when they were alone. He then pulled her into a light embrace and gently kissed her forehead. "I just don't want anything to happen to you."

"I'm flattered that you are so worried about me," replied Sakura as she pulled Heero tighter and rested her head against his chest. "But you don't have to protect me all the time, and this is something we both need to do."

"Hai," answered Heero quietly before capturing her lips for along and tender kiss. "Together."


	43. Sakura Goes to the Sanc Kingdom Part IV

Sanc Kingdom

Seven days after first meeting the parents of Clow Reed, the time came for the two Clow Masters to attempt their raise in power. Ayla had originally predicted to be prepared for the spell a couple days earlier, but since Heero and Sakura decided to do it together, it had taken her an extra while to finish. Meanwhile, Reis had been spending hours within his library, looking through his books, personal notes, and family journals, for any information he could find on the war with the Moon Kingdom and the second generation of Sailor Senshi. Unfortunately, he had only found mostly historical accounts of the war, none of which said anything important about the Senshi.

The usually inseparable Heero and Sakura, had actually spent a large portion of the last week apart. Since Ayla and Reis were spending so much time preparing everything, the duty of taking care of baby Clow Reed had fallen to Sakura. Not that taking care of the baby even felt like a chore to Sakura. She thoroughly enjoyed taking care of the infant and proved that one day she would be an excellent mother.

It wasn't that Heero disliked children or anything, but he decided his time would be better used preparing for the fight he was soon bound to face. Coming from the future gave Heero a small advantage over his opponents, for he had an extra few hundred years of information on war, weapons, and tactics he could employ to help. After erecting the Wall Card to keep any prying eyes from seeing what he was planning, Heero set to work. Knowing his battlefield was a great help to Heero. He made sure to use every hill, crest, peak, and hole to his advantage. With Reis' teachings and magic spells books, Heero found ways to combine new age weapons he was able to construct, with magical power. These hybrid weapons, which were mostly crude landmine type devices, were strategically placed, and camouflaged with their magic power hidden with seals provided by Reis.

The only real times Heero and Sakura spent together was when they were sleeping at night, and when they were training. In terms of magical training, Heero did a bit more than Sakura. Heero extensively practiced the wind spell the Li Clan had taught him, as well as changing the Ice and Angel Cards so he could use them if necessary in combat. While Heero usually trained with Syaoran in hand to hand combat on a daily basis, Sakura really didn't have such a consistent schedule. Since they knew that even if the power increase did work they would still have a difficult battle ahead of them, Heero helped Sakura with her hand to hand fighting. They both hoped the fight wouldn't come to that, but practiced anyway, just in case. Since Sakura's previous instructor in conventional martial arts was Syaoran, her form was very different from Heero's. However, Heero knew so much about fighting, he easily found ways to incorporate a different style into Sakura's. Had Sakura been a master like Syaoran, the hybrid fighting style would not have been possible, but since her training was incomplete, Heero filled in a few of the holes in her defenses. Sakura turned out to be an excellent student, and by the end of the week, she had actually developed a few moves herself for her newly invented style of martial arts.

But all that preparation was for backup and emergencies. They all knew their only realistic chance of surviving was for the spell to increase Heero's and Sakura's power, to work.

"Are you both ready?" asked Ayla. Heero and Sakura were both kneeling in front of Ayla within a very intricate magical power net, while Reis, holding baby Clow, stood by watching from the doorway. Heero, who was holding Sakura's hand to help keep her calm, gave it one last squeeze for luck before letting go. Both teens nodded that they were ready and then closed their eyes and tried to clear their minds. "If this works, usually the unconsciousness lasts around twelve hours. I will be starting with Heero, and then I will do you, Sakura. But remember, since this is a joint preparation, you must still keep your mind clear while I'm working on Heero."

"Hai, Ayla-san," answered Sakura.

Ayla closed her eyes, placed her hands in front of Heero, and concentrated her energy. "Spirits of the heavens and the earth. Lend me your power that I may enchant the power of another. Let the great circle of energy continue on it's righteous path and guide us our the path to destiny."

The moment Ayla spoke the final word of the chant, a small amount of energy left her hands and surrounded Heero. Ayla opened her eyes to determine if Heero's spirit would accept the beginning part of the spell, but received an extreme shock when she saw what had happened. As planned, a thin sapphire blue energy was surrounding Heero's body, but to her surprise, the same blue energy was already around Sakura, and there were two thin energy lines connecting the two Clow Masters. Ayla didn't quite know what to make of the situation, but it appeared that starting the transformation in Heero, triggered the same change to occur in Sakura. Not knowing what else to do, Ayla quickly got up and got out of the spell area and stood next to her husband.

A few moments later, the energy net within the room began shifting and circling the area. It was a beautiful sight, watching the countless energy rays circle the room in two symmetric intricate patters around Heero and Sakura. During this time, neither Sakura nor Heero moved a muscle. Even their heart and breathing rates had dropped to minimal life sustaining levels.

"I don't understand what happened," commented Ayla to her husband.

"I think I do," replied Reis. "Their magic is linked. When one's magic changes, so does the other. That explains why their powers are exactly the same, and also why when you started the spell on Heero, it began in Sakura at the same moment. It could also be the reason they can use telepathy without using magical energy."

"Should we tell them their telepathic connection is not totally secure?" asked Ayla.

"No," answered Reis. "They have been trying very hard to keep us from finding out about our future, and I don't want them knowing it has all been for naught. Besides, they are in a strange place with no way home, and I think their connection gives them a small sense of security, that we shouldn't take away from them." Reis then handed his wife their son and gave her a kiss. "I'll take the first watch. You go rest for a while."

Ayla nodded and then went upstairs to spend some quality time with her son and catch up on some of the rest she had lost over the past week.

Dream World

Sakura awoke to find herself standing all alone in an endless wide open field with bright green grass spotted with occasional clumps of colorful flowers. The air was crisp and clean, with a gentle breeze brushing lightly across her skin and through her hair. The pure white summer dress she was wearing flowed angelically around her body in the wind. The only indication she was no longer in the real world was the pattern of swirling sapphire streaks filling the cloudless sky. Sakura didn't know, but the streaks in the sky were the exact mirror image of the intricate energy net pattern currently sweeping around Heero and herself in house of Reis and Ayla Reed. She gazed into the distance and saw a figure slowly heading in her direction. Since the person was so far away, all Sakura saw was a black shadow, but as they got closer, Sakura could easily determine the person was Heero.

Heero was dressed in black pants, a black long sleeve shirt, and wearing a pair of wrap-around sunglasses. He was not smiling, just walking straight forward looking completely serious. It was a look that had shown up on Heero's face often back at the beginning of the school year and before, but had mostly disappeared when Sakura was around. Despite the fact that Sakura always felt safe and secure when Heero was around, because he looked so serious and there was nobody else present, she began to get a little frightened. She did not feel like she was necessarily in any danger, just slightly nervous.

Without breaking stride and without needing to chant, Heero's Clow Sword suddenly appeared in a flash of black light. Holding the sword, which had changed slightly and now had a black handle and a blade that looked black but gleamed red, at his side, a strange black aura surrounded his body. As the aura grew, a chill ran through Sakura's spine, and she found herself unable to move. All she could do was stare in utter confusion as a smile crept across Heero's face. Not his usual smile, which usually served to relax her, but more of an evil grin that scared her to the core.

"Heero-kun?" stammered Sakura.

"You are so weak," replied Heero, the grin never leaving his face. "And in this world, the weak are dealt with swiftly." Heero then pointed his sword straight at Sakura, and at the tip of the weapon, a black energy ball began to form.

Sakura tried with all her might to break free of whatever was holding her in place, but her muscles just refused to cooperate. Just as Heero was about to fire the deadly energy attack, a flash of white came streaking through the air and impacted Heero right on the side of his head, sending him flying in a corkscrew motion through the air. The white streak that saved Sakura turned out to be a person, who landed in a crouch right in the spot Heero had just been vacated from. Much to Sakura's surprise, the person who saved her turned out to be another Heero, this one dressed in white pants and a perfect fitting sleeveless white shirt. Sakura never even had a chance to open her mouth to speak before the new Heero raised his arms in a guarding position just in time to get struck by a black flash, which sent him sliding face first along the ground in Sakura's direction. Before coming to a stop, Heero used his arm strength to flip himself to his feet, standing next to Sakura. He was a little beat up, but overall, didn't look too badly hurt or anything.

"Heero-kun?" asked Sakura, a little too confused to really trust in anything at the moment.

"It's me," replied Heero, who looked down at Sakura and gave her a slight smile to help reassure her.

"What's going on?"

"It seems we are in some type of dream or spirit world," answered Heero. "And it appears that another version of each of us wants us dead."

"Each of us?"

"Hai. Look behind you."

Sakura turned around to find a mirror image of herself, wearing a black halter top and matching black pants, grinning back at her with the same evil grin that had been on the darkly dressed Heero's face.

"They are different from us though," warned Heero. "I have been fighting that one for the last few minutes, and she is substantially more powerful, both magically and physically, than either of us. I can only assume the other version of me is the same." Almost as if on cue, the dark Heero and dark Sakura each charged, coming in from opposite sides of the normal Heero and Sakura. "You take you, and I'll take me," said Heero as he ran off to face the other version of himself.

While Heero charged into what looked like was going to be a hand to hand fight, Sakura stood her ground and began concentrating her magical energies. "Key that Hides the Power of the Stars. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Sakura Command You Under Contract. Release!" Sakura's wand appeared in her hand in a flash of light, just like always, however, when her aura began to form and she prepared to attack, the darker version of herself, without breaking stride, raised a palm to face Sakura and released a small sonic boom, somehow managing to blow her aura away and keeping her from powering up. Sakura tried one more time to use her magic, but again her opponent released another sonic boom that swept away her magic. Before she could think of anything, the dark Sakura was already on top of her, ready to strike. With no magic, all Sakura could do was execute a hasty dodge to defend herself. She just managed to duck out of the way of a swift roundhouse kick and raised an arm to deflect the follow-up backhand strike. Sakura's troubles didn't end there, as her opponent continued the assault. The dark Sakura's attacks were so fast and precise, Sakura wasn't even able to cleanly block them all, let alone manage to get off a shot of her own. Sakura was extremely glad she had had at least been able to release her Star Wand, since it gave her at least the slightest defensive advantage.

Meanwhile, Heero was having no better luck in his fight. His darker counterpart proved to be noticeably stronger and faster than he was. The other Heero also seemed to possess all the fighting knowledge he had as well, which meant that combined with his heightened speed and strength, his attack and defensive fighting styles were almost perfect. There was one difference between Heero and Sakura's situations. This was that while Sakura hadn't even been able to execute a single attack, Heero had gotten in a couple of clean shots against his enemy. The only bad thing was, that to get those attacks in, Heero had taken quite a beating. The strikes Heero had made contact with were virtually unblockable, but weren't the most powerful of attacks and left the attacker very vulnerable to any opponent who was strong enough not to get knocked down. The result of using these movies on an enemy who's defensive capabilities were just as heightened as his offensive ones, was receiving numerous hits on the exposed area of the body. And this was exactly what happened to Heero. Heero had been struck so hard and often that had he had a pain tolerance of a normal person, he would most definitely have already passed out.

For Heero, however, he was more worried about Sakura than the beating he was taking himself. He wanted desperately to look over his shoulder and see how Sakura was fairing in her fight, but knew if his concentration wandered for just a split second he would be finished.

It was probably better, for Heero's sake, that he couldn't see Sakura's fight, for it would have most definitely distracted him greatly. The dark Sakura had released her own wand in an instantaneous flash of light, taking away Sakura's one small advantage. The momentum now completely in the favor of the dark Sakura, regular Sakura found herself getting even more and more desperate. So desperate in fact, she found herself contemplating attempting a martial arts move she had seen Syaoran execute once, but had never even thought of doing herself. However, at the moment it seemed that she had to try something outrageous, otherwise she would eventually slip, and then she would loose. Her mind finally made up, she had only to wait for an opportunity. When the dark Sakura let loose a head level roundhouse kick, Sakura saw her chance. Instead of raising an arm or stepping back to avoid the kick, Sakura dropped down, face heading toward the ground, and began her attack. She quickly pulled her legs into her body and used her stomach muscles to begin a forward roll. When she was in the right position, she used all the arm strength she could to pop up feet first from the ground, and extended her legs to catch her unsuspecting opponent off guard with a two-footed kick to the jaw.

Sakura had put all her strength into the kick, and that, combined with the fact that the move was nowhere in Sakura's normal repertoire and so caught her enemy by complete surprise, had been enough to lift the darker Sakura off the ground and sailing backwards. Having finally gotten some space between herself and her dark copy, Sakura was not going to waste the opportunity. She immediately popped back to her feet and began building her magical power. Unfortunately, what Sakura didn't realize was that the dark Sakura, while she was caught by surprise, was still in full control of her flip. Before Sakura could use any magic, Clow Card or otherwise, dark Sakura torqued her body around and before her feet even hit the ground, she fired another magical energy draining shot. However, instead of following the sonic wave with a physical onslaught like before, she fired a magical energy ball. Like regular Sakura, dark Sakura's magic was her strong suit compared to her martial arts skills. She had been fighting hand to hand for her own amusement, much like how a cat toys with a mouse before eating it. But after the mouse struck back, dark Sakura no longer got enjoyment from the torture.

The change in attitude of dark Sakura spelled trouble for regular Sakura. The energy ball fired by dark Sakura, which was a mix of wind, fire, and ice energies, shot through the air at extreme speed, and with her magic diffused again, Sakura didn't have the time or ability to effectively block the attack. The result of only being able to guard with her arm, was extreme pain. In all her years of fighting Clow Cards and other strange occurrences, Sakura had, surprisingly, never really been seriously injured. She'd had her power drained and received numerous bumps, cuts, and bruises, but nothing really severe. Because of this, she really wasn't prepared for the excruciating pain caused by the attack. The impact alone sent Sakura flying through the air, but that was the least of Sakura's worries. The vacuum created by the tornado wind energy ripped the skin on her arm to shreds, and the pain sensations created by instantaneous combined freezing and burning was more intense than anything Sakura could have possibly imagined. Sakura didn't even think to brace herself as she landed hard on her back on the ground. All her mind could comprehend was trying to dull the pain from her severely injured forearm, from which her bright red blood was steadily flowing.

Heero didn't see Sakura get shot with the powerful energy ball, nor did he hear her scream in complete agony. However, he felt it. He felt it in his mind. He felt it in his heart. He felt it in his spirit. He felt her pain, her fear, and her suffering. In a flash before his eyes came an image of Sakura, tears streaming down her face, lying on the ground clutching her bleeding arm. In the vision, Heero could see the pain in Sakura's expression, and the sight removed any and all restraints surrounding Heero's power. His whole body erupted, creating a magnificent white energy flame that engulfed the entire area around him. Unfortunately for the dark Heero, he was caught in too close proximity to Heero when he exploded, and so disintegrated in a cloud of black smoke by the power of Heero's energy.

The giant flame of Heero's power only lasted a moment before his aura returned to its normal size, but the pain and anger still burned strongly in Heero's unforgiving stare. Without so much as a word, Heero moved into a position right at dark Sakura's back. His speed had increased so dramatically, it appeared that he had disappeared and then suddenly reappeared in his current position, leaving the dark Sakura no time to react. Heero placed a hand on each of dark Sakura's shoulders, and within moments, Heero's power surged again, and much like his own dark counterpart, dark Sakura was erased from existence in a cloud of black smoke.

Heero quickly made his way over to Sakura's position and gently cradled the girl, who had passed out from the pain in her arm, in his strong arms. However, as soon as Sakura's body came in contact with his own, something began to happen to Heero's power. Uncontrolled by himself, Heero's aura began to manifest itself. Suddenly, a large amount of Heero's energy shot from his body and hovered in the air as a perfectly formed white energy ball. The sphere floated unmoving for only a moment before it began to pulsate. The frequency of the pulses of the energy sphere steadily increased until it reached a critical level and then the ball flashed a blinding light. When the light subsided, the sphere that had previously been Heero's white energy, was now radiating the same gleaming silver energy that was the representation of the combined auras of the two Clow Masters. The ball hung in the air for an instant before streaking back down towards its creator. Heero instinctively assumed the energy was heading for him, considering it came from his body in the first place, so was caught a little off guard when the ball streaked past his face and straight into the chest area of Sakura. His first reaction to the scene was that he was afraid his energy had just done something harmful to the girl lying in his arms, for when the energy struck Sakura, her body jolted up momentarily, as if she were just electrocuted. However, Heero's fears were quickly put to rest when Sakura's body began to radiate her familiar pink aura and her eyes fluttered open.

"Heero-kun?" said Sakura in a voice no louder than a whisper.

"Hai, Sakura-chan. I'm right here." Heero gently ran his fingers through Sakura's silky auburn locks, immensely glad she seemed to be alright. "How's your injury?"

Sakura, who was still taking a little time to clear her head, had almost completely forgotten about her wound. She slowly brought her arm up to her face and was astonished to see an odd spiral of pink, white, and silver energies encircling her forearm. Surprisingly, Sakura found that her arm, which had previously hurt so terribly she couldn't bear it, no longer held any pain. In fact, as she looked a little closer, it appeared as though her arm was actually healing itself. The injury was no longer seeping blood, and the burn marks were slowly beginning to fade. Sakura watched in awe at the sight of regeneration of her wounded forearm. She even maneuvered her arm in various directions to make sure she wasn't seeing some type of illusion. Heero, too, was quite fascinated at the sight of Sakura's arm being healed by the magical aura surrounding it, but found himself a little more amused at watching Sakura's reaction to the spectacle. She seemed so intrigued at the situation involving her arm, that she hardly seemed to notice anything else around her. It wasn't long before Sakura's arm was fully healed and the spiraling magical aura dissolved. When her source of amusement disappeared, Sakura finally started to come back to reality.

"What happened, Heero-kun?" queried Sakura. "The last thing I remember was fighting against myself and getting hurt." Sakura paused for a moment before continuing. "But now my arm doesn't hurt anymore, and my magic feels a little funny."

"Truthfully," answered Heero. "I don't know. My memory of the past few moments feels like a blur for some reason."

"It's because this world is not reality," came a voice that seemed to come from all directions. Both Sakura and Heero could recognize the voice, but for some reason neither of them could quite place it.

"Who's there?" asked Sakura.

"Show yourself," added Heero.

Noticing some movement out of the corner of their eyes, Heero and Sakura both turned around to find the figure of Li Yelan, Syaoran's mother, standing behind them.

"Li-sama?" questioned Sakura, now even more confused than ever.

"No," answered Yelan. "I am nothing more than a physical representation of the one you both know as Li Yelan. I chose this form because in each of your minds, this was one person you both know and respect."

"Then who are you?" questioned Heero.

"I am nothing," she answered. "I am a part of the minds of both of you."

"What are you doing here?" Heero continued.

"I am here to inform you of something you both already know, but also don't know."

"That doesn't make sense," said Sakura, extremely confused at the situation.

"Everything I can say, is something you already know; you may simply be unaware you know."

"So you are supposed to represent our unconscious mind?" clarified Heero.

"Not exactly. I represent what you know in your spirit, not your mind."

"In our spirit?"

"It is the spirit, not the mind, that understands one's magic the best. The mind is limited by what is expected and what can be determined through the five senses, but the spirit is where all one's magic resides. The spirit knows one's full potential, and the spirit knows how much of that potential can be unlocked."

"If you represent the spirit, how is it you are in front of both of us?" asked Heero.

"That answer is right in front of you. You need only to see it."

"Our magic is linked," stated Sakura. "That is why you can appear to both of us, and why our magical power levels are the same."

The image of Li Yelan just smiled knowingly at the Card Mistress, while Heero stood with a slightly perplexed look on his face. "Linked?"

"Hai," answered Sakura. "When one of our magic changes, so does the other. It links our auras and our spirits."

"How did you figure this out?" Heero asked with a bit of admiration for Sakura's deductive skills.

Sakura opened her mouth, about to speak, then slowly closed it again without saying a word. The bridge of her nose crinkled a tiny bit, making her look deep in thought. A few moments later, she once again opened her mouth to speak. "I'm not sure. The answer just sort of came out of my mouth."

Heero couldn't help but laugh a little at Sakura's answer, and gently kissed her on the forehead to show he wasn't making fun of her. Heero then turned back toward the image of Yelan. "Is she right?"

Yelan nodded her head. "The Card Mistress is absolutely correct. Your spirits, and therefore your auras are directly linked together. When any change occurs in one of your magic aura's, the same change will occur in the other."

"You aren't here to tell us that, are you?" questioned Sakura.

"No," answered Yelan. "I am not here to tell you anything. I am here simply as a guide to help you discover what you already know for yourselves."

"Then it must have something to do with the change in both my magical aura and Sakura's magical aura after fighting with those other versions of us."

"You are partially correct. I am here to help you discover your own new power, but you are mistaken about your enemies. The two whom you fought, are not a different version of yourselves, but are a representation of one of the possibilities of what your powers could become."

"So you are saying that that is what we would be like if we allowed ourselves to travel down the path of darkness?" Sakura asked.

"Neither the path of light nor the path of dark are clear or easy. One cannot know how one's self will turn out until they have become as such. Henceforth, that is one of the possibilities, but not the only one."

"So what are you here to tell us?"

"As I said, I am not here to tell you anything. I am here simply as a guide to help you discover what you already know for yourselves."

"How are you to guide us?" asked Sakura.

"When the correct questions are asked, the correct answers will appear."

"Have we become Z class magicians?" Heero asked the spirit representative.

"To reach the status of Z, one must have absolute synchronization between the body, the mind, the heart, and the spirit. A complete harmony and understanding of one's self and the attainment of one's total potential will be reached and the aura will flow freely throughout."

"So we cannot have reached the level of Z, or else your guidance would not be necessary," said Sakura. "Then is this the Trial?"

"No," answered Yelan. "You will know when that time comes."

"Then what changes did occur in our magic?"

"You should be directing that question to the Clow Master," said Yelan.

Sakura turned her head to the side. "Heero-kun?"

Heero let out a silent, almost unnoticeable sigh. It wasn't that he wanted to keep secrets from Sakura, but for some reason, he didn't particularly feel like explaining the reasoning behind his sudden jump in power to the Card Mistress. "The power change you probably feel within yourself came from me." Sakura looked at Heero with questioning eyes, showing she was not sure what exactly he meant. "As you said before, our power is linked. When I saw you get injured fighting the dark version of yourself, my power jumped substantially. Before I even really realized what I was doing, I released a large amount of raw energy to destroy the enemies in order to protect you. However, once that mission was accomplished, some of the new strength I had gained left my body and transferred into you. That is probably the reason for that aura that surrounded and healed your injured arm earlier."

"So this energy," said Sakura as she cautiously flexed her previously injured arm. "Is from you?"

"Yeah," answered Heero with a nod.

"Well, in that case," said Sakura with a serious face before breaking out into a bright smile. "Thank you!" She then giggled at seeing the expression of surprise on Heero's face and gave him a quick kiss.

"There is one last thing I wish to know," stated Heero to the image of Li Yelan.

"Protection," answered Yelan without even waiting for the question. "The need to protect each other is always first and foremost in your minds, and is a thought which gives you both continuous inner strength. This inner strength is what will keep you both from loosing sight of your chosen destinies. Together, you will keep your resolve, and together you will have the strength and power to do what is necessary to protect the world, and each other." While Heero and Sakura took the time for the words of the image of Li Yelan to soak in, an unseen smile crossed Yelan's face and she slowly faded back into nothingness.

As soon as Yelan disappeared, the pattern of circling sapphire streaks in the sky began to increase in speed until they became a flurry of blue energy. Both Heero and Sakura looked up at the increasingly more volatile sky, each curious as to what was going to happen next. The two were staring so hard at the intriguing sky, both had to divert their eyes when it unexpectedly flashed a bright white. The white light didn't just stay in the sky, but enveloped the entire area, and before they knew what had happened, both Heero and Sakura found themselves back in the Reed household.

Scanning the area, the first thing they noticed was the blue energy net that had previously existed throughout the room, was nowhere to be seen. The next thing they saw was Reis standing in the doorway looking at them. "So you two are finally back," Reis commented as he walked into the room.

Heero was the first to try to stand, but found that his legs were so stiff that he couldn't bend his knees correctly back from the kneeling position he was in.

"Hold still," said Reis when he saw Heero trying to stand. Reis placed a magical ward on each of their legs before holding out a hand to each. "You should be able to stand now."

Taking Reis' outstretched hands, Heero and Sakura stretched their now movable legs and stood up. "How long were we out?" asked Heero, not believing his legs would have been so cramped if they had been only down for 12 hours as expected.

"You've been unconscious for approximately the past 80 hours," answered Reis.

"Three and a half days?" confirmed Sakura, doing the hours to days calculation in her head. "I thought the spell was supposed to only last for twelve hours?"

"It is. We were a little worried. My wife even tried to stop the spell once, but your magic rejected her from the room."

"Was she hurt?" asked a very concerned Sakura who didn't want to be a reason for their host to have been injured.

"She's perfectly fine," answered Reis. "She got a little shock from the magical energy keeping her from entering the room, but was not injured in any way, so don't worry, Ms. Sakura." Sakura didn't respond, but it was still evident in her eyes that she was concerned for the woman who had been so kind to her the past few days.

"My husband speaks the truth," said Ayla, who had come unnoticed to stand in the doorway. "I was a bit surprised when the energy within the room sparked at my touch, but I guarantee you I was not injured in any way." Ayla gave a warm smile to Sakura. "So please ease your mind."

Sakura could only smile back at the kind woman speaking to her, leaving all her worries behind. "So why were we unconscious for so long?"

"Truthfully," answered Ayla. "We have no idea."

"Both Ayla and myself have performed this spell many times, though I will admit we have never done it on an S class magician before, but nothing like this has ever happened before. But all this is beside the point, for it makes little difference since you both came out alright and it seems the spell was successful in increasing your powers."

"I thank both of you again for performing this spell," stated Heero with a slight bow. "It did more than just increase our power. It truly helped me come to terms with and understand much more about myself. I am eternally grateful for your kindness." Sakura was a little taken aback by Heero's statement of thanks to the Reeds. It wasn't that she was surprised that he thanked them for their help, but the sincerity and meaningfulness of the apology was a bit unexpected.

"It is we who should be thanking you," responded Ayla. "You two are giving us our only hope of a future for our son. There is nothing more precious than that. We will forever be eternally grateful to the both of you."

"Every person has a choice between doing what's right, and doing what's easy," said Sakura. "We cannot just stand by and watch a travesty just because you two loved each other enough to defy those in power, and choose to be together. We cannot, and we will not." Ayla smiled, and bowed respectfully to the cute girl, who despite her youth, had the heart of a mature, honorable, and most importantly, kind human being.

"Has there been any change in the situation these past three days?" asked Heero, trying to get feel for what had been going on during the duration of the spell.

"It seems the King has realized something is amiss," responded Reis. "A few of his sorcerers have recently been trying to break my barrier. There is no need to worry however, for they do not posses enough strength to get through the particular barrier spell I cast."

"Unfortunately," continued Ayla. "Since the King knows something is going to happen, he has been steadily recalling some of his magicians from around the kingdom. Not many have arrived as of yet, but if we do not act soon, there is a chance we may become overwhelmed just by sheer numbers, and if that happens, even with your help, there would be no chance of survival."

"Then we should act fast," said Heero. "Do you have everything prepared for the transportation spell?"

"Everything we are bringing with us has been gathered inside the house. All that remains is setting up the spell and bringing everything within the teleportation radius."

"However," said Ayla. "We will give it one more day. The two of you must rest before attempting to undertake this battle. I'm sure you both can tell, but your magic is not at full strength after the power-up spell. You will need a good night's rest to regain your power."

Ayla's point was only emphasized further when Sakura chose that moment to give a slight yawn. She then blushed slightly at her unintentional action.

"Very well," answered Heero with a sigh. "We will wait until morning." Heero took Sakura into his arms and gave her a light kiss on the forehead, and was rewarded with another soft yawn and a cute purring noise into his chest.

"Sleep well, both of you," commented Reis as Heero and Sakura walked toward the spare bedroom of the Reed household. "Tomorrow will not be easy." Heero and Sakura simply nodded their heads in understanding before softly closing the door and heading to bed.

Author's Notes:

Well, here's the latest section of CCS: The Next Quest. I meant to finish it much sooner, but between school and such, I just didn't have the time. In truth, this was not supposed to be the end of the section. I meant to have the battle in this same section, but since this one was getting long and I haven't updated in a while, I decided to just stop it here and put the battle in another part. Thanks to everyone who has been reading and reviewing my story!

I would also like to give thanks to SpringSakura07 (Helen) for her continuous support. If it wasn't for her, this section probably would have taken even longer, so those of you who read my story should be appreciative. Bye for now!


	44. Sakura Goes to the Sanc Kingdom Part V

Sanc Kingdom, The Next Morning

"That is a lot of magicians," commented Sakura with awe in her voice. "I think we may have underestimated a little."

Sakura and Heero were presently standing on the roof of the Reed household, looking across the terrain at the ever growing number of magicians that seemed to be teleporting to the area. The original prediction of around twenty to twenty-five magicians turned out to be way off. From the quick count Heero took, it looked as though there were at least thirty-five sorcerers surrounding the area, with more apparently on the way. "It does appear we will have out work cut out for us," responded Heero.

"At least I don't see the Green Magician that Reed-sama was talking about," said Sakura. "Although the Yellow Magician did show up."

"Yes, but he did say the Yellow Magician had more powers of foresight than attack strength," remarked Heero. "However, we should still be wary of the Yellow one, as well as the Blue Magician, Nadia. Since they are supposed to be the most powerful, we must be cautious when dealing with them."

Having seen enough for the moment, Heero and Sakura each jumped down from the roof of the house, landing smoothly near Reis and Ayla, who were setting up the magical pattern required for the teleportation spell. "How far along are we?" asked Heero.

"Nearly finished," answered Reis. "We shall be ready to begin the spell within moments."

"Good," said Heero. "The sooner the better. There are more magicians showing up every minute, so the quicker we act, the better our chances will be."

"Fortunately, it appears the Green Magician isn't here yet," added Sakura, who was trying to look on the bright side of things. "From what you have said, if the Green Magician doesn't show up, it will make our job substantially easier."

"I'm sorry, Ms. Sakura, but you are mistaken," commented Reis. "The Green Magician is here. I am not sure exactly where, but I can feel his presence." Sakura looked a little shocked at hearing the news, for she and Heero had surveyed the area very closely and had not seen any trace of a Green Magician.

"Are you certain?"

Reis nodded. "Positive. He has a very distinct aura that is easy to detect once you know what to search for. It is likely he is hiding somewhere within the shadows of the trees. His spells of invisibility are top notch, so until he uses his attack powers, it is unlikely either of you will be able to discern his location."

"That is not something I wanted to hear," commented Heero.

"Is there anything you can do to help us determine where he is?" asked Sakura.

"I could cast a nullification spell," answered Reis. "However, that would require me using magic, so once I begin the spell, my barrier will disappear, and we would have to wait just that much longer to begin the transportation incantation."

Heero took a moment to contemplate and weigh out the options before making a decision. "I don't believe we have much choice. If what you say about the Green Magician being the most powerful of the King's sorcerers is true, then we must know where he is. We cannot risk being attacked without warning."

"I understand," said Reis.

"We are all set, my husband," Ayla informed everyone, as she walked up behind them. "We may begin anytime."

When Sakura and Heero turned around to face the woman who was speaking, Sakura noticed something she was surprised she hadn't ever noticed earlier. _"Heero-kun,"_ said Sakura telepathically. _"Doesn't that sword on Ayla-sama's back look a lot like Syaoran-kun's sword?"_

Heero was a little surprised at Sakura's observation, for he hadn't really paid much attention before, but now that he looked, it appeared Sakura was correct. _"More than just a little,"_ responded Heero. _"I think that actually is Li's sword. But that doesn't make any sense. He said his sword was a family heirloom passed down from one Chosen One of the Li Clan to the next."_

When Sakura heard Heero's comment, she immediately mentally smacked herself on the head for her own forgetfulness. No wonder Reis and Ayla knew so much about the Li Clan. Sakura knew Syaoran was related to Clow Reed, but until now she hadn't thought much of the details of it. But now it suddenly all came rushing back to her. _"Of course she would have the Li Clan sword!"_ said Sakura telepathically, though she was talking to herself just as much as Heero. _"Kero-chan and Li-kun told me a long time ago about how he was related to Clow Reed, but I had never really thought about the details. They said, he was related because Clow Reed's mother was once a very powerful member of the Li Clan! So that means, Ayla-sama is actually a member of the Clan and that is why she has the sword. I can't believe the connection didn't occur to me earlier."_

"_Well I suppose that does explain a lot,"_ answered Heero. _"Although I am not quite certain why they didn't tell us about it before, and why they continuously referred to the Li Clan as a separate and unrelated group."_

"_Well, from what I understand," _said Sakura. _"Clow Reed's mother fell out of favor of the Clan when she married someone who was an outsider of the Clan without their permission. So perhaps, from their point of view, Ayla-sama is no longer a part of the Li Clan, and is therefore a separate entity."_

The fact that Heero and Sakura's attention had suddenly seemed to be diverted was not missed by either Reis or Ayla. The fact that they were more or less just standing in place doing nothing made it fairly obvious what they were doing. "Have you noticed that we cannot hear their telepathic conversations anymore?" Ayla whispered in her husband's ear.

Reis nodded. "It appears the power increase also helped solidify their mind connection," Reis whispered back. "In a way, I am very glad that happened as well. I was considering telling them we could hear their telepathic thoughts, for I wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Yuy was planning on using their telepathic communication ability during the fight to help coordinate their efforts better, and I was worried that Nadia or the others would be able to hear their plans. But now, I suppose we no longer have to worry about that."

Not really wanting to disrupt Heero and Sakura's conversation, but also knowing that time was of the essence, Ayla interrupted their telepathic dialogue. "Are you two ready?"

Ayla's voice snapped Heero and Sakura out of their little world, leaving both to hope that the two Reed's thought they were merely thinking about the upcoming battle.

"Hai, Ayla-sama," answered Sakura, as both she and Heero nodded.

"I just want to thank you both one last time for all that you are doing for us and our son," said Ayla. "We shall never forget you." Both she and Reis bowed respectfully to the two young Captors.

Sakura and Heero each returned the bow. "And we will never forget you either."

With that final statement, Heero and Sakura turned away, and walked out of the immediate spell casting area. As they walked, they both took out their Clow pendants. "Key that Hides the Power of the Stars/Space. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Sakura/Heero Command You Under Contract. Release!" In a flash of light, Sakura's staff and Heero's sword appeared in their hands. Wordlessly, Heero gently took hold of Sakura's open hand, and pulled her in for a soft, yet meaningful kiss. "We'll make it through this," he whispered in her ear. "I promise."

"Hai," was all Sakura could manage to say as she buried her head in his chest as he gave her one last hug for luck.

With Sakura's head resting against his chest, Heero turned his gaze back toward Reis, and ever so slightly nodded his head.

Reis nodded back, and at the same instant Sakura and Heero separated, he began to chant. "Powers of the stars near, far, and gone."

"Three," said Heero, both to himself and Sakura.

"Pave the path through to the beyond."

"Two."

"Show the way and give us sight."

"One."

"Allow all forces to come to light."

"Zero."

After Reis' first word, the opaque shield he had erected had appeared, and by the time he was finished, the shield flickered and faded away. Simultaneously with the dissipation of the shield, two other events took place. The first was the conclusion of the nullification spell by Reis. As promised, the spell succeeded in showing the Green Magician's whereabouts, which happened to be right next to where Nadia, the Blue Magician, was standing. Unexpectedly, however, the spell also succeeded in uncloaking about a half dozen other magicians in the area, bringing the magician count above forty.

The other event that took place at the same time as the deterioration of the barrier and the casting of the nullification spell was caused by Heero. The moment his count reached zero, Heero pressed a small remote control he built with his parts from both his and Sakura's portable phones. This remote was a trigger for all the makeshift explosives Heero had built and strategically placed right at the inside edges of Reis' barrier. The moment the signal was given, all the mines exploded in a flash of white. With Reis' assistance, Heero had infused each explosive device with either Lightning, Fire, or Ice magic. Blue ice, red fire, and yellow lightning energies blasted out and around the entire area, engulfing the weaker of the magicians in its path. The stronger and more experienced of the magicians managed to erect shields around themselves, most of which were strong enough to protect them from the elemental energy. In the end, the attack had incapacitated a little over a dozen of the enemy sorcerers, which was actually a little more than Heero had expecting or even hoping for.

Before going to battle, Heero and Sakura had planned very carefully what their initial plans of action were to be. They intended to detonate the magically infused explosives the second the barrier came down as their first move, and that was to be immediately followed by calling the Wall, Shield, and Silent Cards and having them put up a protection barrier around Reis, Ayla, and baby Clow. Erecting the Wall and Shield Cards were very obvious moves, but Sakura had also suggested using Silent. When Heero had asked why, Sakura explained that she figured it would be helpful for Reis and Ayla if they could work on the spell without having to hear all the sounds of the battle at the same time. The easier it would be for them to concentrate, the more likely the spell would succeed. Heero had been quite impressed at Sakura's plans, and had praised her as such, bringing a bright smile to Sakura's cute angelic face.

While the enemy magicians had been distracted by the elemental energies being shot their direction from Heero's mines, the two Clow Masters had taken the opportunity to cast the Shield, Wall, and Silent Cards. The result of the three powers mixing was a very dark dome surrounding Reis, Ayla, and all their belongings. The dome was just the slightest bit translucent, allowing anyone who looked hard enough to be able to see the lips of Reis and Ayla moving, but strangely there were no sounds at all coming out from inside.

Following the defensive moves, Heero and Sakura had very loosely laid out a relatively simple battle plan. They had been expecting the three powerful magicians to show up, and Reis had informed them that most of the supporting spell casters each wore different colored cloaks to signify what types of magic they specialized in. After the Green, Blue, and Yellow magicians, Heero and Sakura decided they had to be most wary of the black cloaked magicians. These magicians specialized mainly in elemental attack magic, much like Syaoran's fire, wind, and lighting spells. However, despite the fact that they knew to be cautious of the Blue, Green, Yellow, and black magicians' powers, they had decided it was in their best interest not to deal with them right off. The other three types left were cloaked in red, purple, and white. The red magicians were probably of the least concern to Sakura and Heero, for they were almost like apprentices, being merely what the black magicians were, before they learned any advanced spells. According to Reis, the purple magicians were for defensive purposes. They were best at defensive magic, such as shields and illusionary spells, and so were support for some of the attack magicians. While these magicians couldn't really attack, Heero and Sakura knew they should keep an eye on them.

The last type of sorcerer was the ones cloaked in white. These were the magicians Heero and Sakura had selected to try to defeat first. The white magicians had little to no offensive spell abilities, and very weak defensive spells. Their main purpose was to support all the other magicians on the field. They were experts at healing magic, making recovery time after an attack disappear, and were also good at casting magical focus spells to increase other magicians powers, and physical increase spells that would allow magicians greater strength and speed for defensive purposes or in case the fight changed from magical to physical. If these magicians were left on the field of battle, it would make defeating the other sorcerers all that much harder. Therefore, Heero and Sakura had strategically planned to try to target these magicians first, and strike quickly and effectively in order to minimize the advantages the enemy had over them.

As it turned out, the enemy force was composed of mainly black magicians, especially after the elemental minefield was triggered. From what Heero and Sakura could tell, the initial preemptive strike had not taken out a single black magician. Mostly it was red magicians sprawled out on the ground, with three white magicians and two purple magicians joining them. That left approximately twenty black magicians, four white magicians, two red magicians, and a lone purple magician, still standing on the battlefield with the Green, Blue, and Yellow sorcerers.

"_Ready, Sakura-chan?"_ asked Heero in their minds.

"_Hai."_

"_You take the purple and the two white mages to the North, and I'll take the white one to the East, and the one to the South."_

"_Hai."_

"_Keep safe, Sakura-chan."_

"_Be careful, Heero-kun."_

Sakura and Heero nodded subtly to each other, their eyes meeting for just a split second. "Go." Simultaneously, Heero and Sakura both released their flight cards.

"Wing!"

"Fly!"

The reason for releasing the flight cards was not for any type of offensive purposes, but more for visibility advantages and for agility reasons. The two Clow Masters took flight, and shot straight up, before separating just a few yards and facing opposite directions, with Sakura facing North and Heero pointing South. The attacks from each Heero and Sakura came simultaneously so as to not give the enemy any clues as to what their strategy was.

Sakura released both of her two most powerful attack cards, Watery and Firey, ordering the them to combine into a strengthened attack. Sakura had long since mastered the technique of combining the powers of the two conflicting elements to substantially increase the amount of power over that which each held on its own. The swirling red and blue elemental beings were flying straight at the enemies, but not quite at the small group consisting of the one purple and two white mages. Instead, Sakura had directed her attack on a pair of black mages, near to her target, but not quite in the same line of fire. Her hope was that the purple mage, whom Reis had told her was a specialist in defense, would think she was targeting the black mages first, and use his energy to cast a protective barrier around them instead of himself. Sakura's instinct turned out to be right on the dot, for once the purple magician had seen the direction of Sakura's attack, he had immediately reacted just as Sakura had predicted. The sorcerer raised his arms above his head and after muttering a few words, a purple hue force field arose around the two apparently targeted black magicians.

Unfortunately for the purple mage and the two white mages with him, they had not been expecting the fast approaching elementals to suddenly change direction and head straight at them. Watery and Firey had waited until the last possible instant before swiftly shifting their heading just enough to show their real target had never been the two black mages. Sakura could see the eyes of the purple and white sorcerers go wide in surprise as they were caught completely unaware when the red and blue energy came streaking through the sky in their direction. With the white mages having no defensive spells to cast, and the purple mage without enough time to recast a spell, the three could only watch as the energy got closer and closer at an ever increasing pace.

Meanwhile, Heero was employing a very similar tactic. It wasn't quite the same as Sakura's however, since his two targets weren't in the same area as each other. Deciding on the Magma Card, Heero released his powerful attack and sent the fire based elemental in a fast and volatile circle of the area. All the black magicians raised protective shields, just in case the attack turned their way, but since the white mages had very ineffective defensive spells at their disposal, they were sitting ducks when the Magma Card finally showed its true targets. None of the other sorcerers in the area had a chance to protect their comrades when the radiant fire energy split into two and headed toward both white magicians.

Almost at the exact same moment, Heero's Magma Card and Sakura's Watery and Firey Cards exploded in a wave of power that engulfed their targets. The Clow Cards were by now so in tune with their Masters' feelings that they knew to not cause any permanent or deadly harm, so when the sorcerers were struck, the damage was limited to only minor cuts and burns and a loss of consciousness.

Unplanned by Heero and Sakura, a third attack was made simultaneously with their own. They almost didn't notice it since they were so concentrated on their own objectives, but at the last second they saw the blue and green energies streaking across the battlefield and impacting loudly against the combined forces of the Wall and Shield. The amount of energy released when the attacks exploded was so immense that it gave a twinge of doubt to Sakura and Heero as to whether their protective barrier would be strong enough. As the dust settled and the smoke cleared, Heero and Sakura were relieved to see that their shield had indeed done its job of protecting its occupants. In fact, from what the two Clow Masters could tell, Reis and Ayla didn't even seem to notice the attack at all, no doubt because of Sakura's use of the Silent Card.

"_I don't think the Shield and Wall can withstand many more attacks like that, Heero-kun," _said Sakura telepathically as she dodged a few attacks spells the black mages sent in her direction.

"_I agree,"_ responded Heero. He paused for a moment as he made use of his wings to do an extremely acrobatic move to evade the flurry of ice shards one of the black magicians had sent his direction. _"We need to cause more of a distraction so the enemy can't ignore us and attack Reis and Ayla."_ Putting a bit of distance between the attacking sorcerers and himself by flying upwards, Heero pulled out the Replicate Card. "Replicate!" Upon release, the Replicate Card suddenly turned into gleaming white energy, half of which surrounded Heero, while the other half flew over to Sakura. Almost as if looking at a fun house mirror, each of Sakura's and Heero's bodies shimmed slightly until a second and third copy of themselves appeared on either side of the original. _"Try to keep the black magicians busy,"_ said Heero. _"I'm going after the others."_

"_Hai,"_ responded Sakura. _"Be careful."_

"_Always," _said Heero, as all three of his forms gave Sakura a wink before shooting toward the three colored magicians back on the ground.

Sakura got momentarily distracted watching Heero fly toward the Blue, Yellow, and Green magicians before coming to her senses and realizing she had to come up with a plan of her own. "So what should we do?" Sakura asked her clones with a smile, knowing full well she wouldn't get any type of an answer since the clones and herself had different bodies but shared the same mind. Even if Sakura's clones could respond, they never would have had a chance to do so. Seeing one of their opponents heading toward their leaders and the other seeming temporarily distracted, one of the troupes of black magicians took it upon themselves to begin the attack. Caught a bit off guard, Sakura and her copies just barely had enough time to execute a few fancy flips to dodge the numerous ice shards the black magicians had sent their way. Sakura was about to think up a counterattack, but before she got a chance after evading the Yue-like ice shower, a few more black magicians decided to join in on the fun. Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura caught a glimpse of a rapidly approaching rainbow of different colored energies streaking through the sky in her direction. She quickly took flight in a down and away pattern in an effort to move out of the path of the closely bound beams. Unfortunately for Sakura, the black magicians were ranked high for a reason. As soon as she moved, the attacks suddenly split and turned. Once separated Sakura counted what looked like five attacks, all approaching at different speeds and angles. Without being able to simply sidestep the energy, the Clow Mistress had to resort to turning and running away as fast as possible. Sakura found herself in a bit of a bind. The approaching energy attacks were coming much to fast to keep outrunning for long, and without the option of evasion or raising a shield, Sakura was fresh out of ideas.

She also knew her two clones were in tight situations as well. One of her clones had two attacks heading its way and was handling the situation about as well as could be, but the other, who was running away from what appeared to be seven attacks, was in some serious trouble. Knowing there was no way it was going to survive the onslaught, the clone decided to make its death count. Purposely allowing the attacks following it to get a little closer to make sure they didn't try to pick up a new target, the Sakura clone set its plan into motion. Being composed purely of magic, the clone didn't have the fear normally associated with the prospect of death. Therefore, without even a flinch in its resolve, the clone picked a vector and flew straight into the energy beams heading toward its Mistress.

Already knowing what was about to happen, the real Sakura didn't even want to watch, but couldn't help but turn around and look back. The resulting mid-air explosion was massive. The culmination of the multiple colors created a bright white blast of light that was soon followed by the deafening roar of the exploding energies. The force of the blast rippled through the air and caught in the outstretched wings of Sakura's Fly Card, sending the Mistress tumbling in the sky. Still completely off balance from the shockwave, Sakura managed to turn her body just enough to try to get a glimpse of the quickly receding white light. However, he gaze never got that far, as she immediately caught sight of a single blue energy attack that had not impacted upon her clone and was now not twenty feet from her position and approaching fast. Without enough time to do anything else, all Sakura could do was raise her arms in front of her face and let out a yelp of fear and surprise.

The attack impacted hard enough against her left wing to result in the Fly Card detaching itself from her body and returning to Card form, causing Sakura to plummet toward the hard ground far below. Sakura was scared out of her wits. Free-falling with no Fly Card, Sakura didn't know what to do. When the Fly got recalled, not only did Sakura's wings disappear, but her remaining clone's wings had vanished as well, leaving it helpless to assist the Card Mistress. As the ground got closer and closer, Sakura closed her eyes and braced herself for the imminent painful impact.

Sakura was certain she would hit the ground at any moment, when she suddenly felt herself stop accelerating downwards and was completely surrounded by a very comforting and familiar aura. Slowly opening her eyes, Heero's handsome face gradually appeared in Sakura's vision. "Heero-kun!" exclaimed Sakura as she tightly wrapped her hands around Heero's neck from her position in his strong arms.

"You know, it is very dangerous to fly without any wings," Heero chided with a light smile to comfort his girlfriend. Sakura's only response was a light giggle as she kept her arms around Heero's neck until she was finished catching her breath. Sakura hadn't even realized how hard she had been breathing until she was safely in Heero's arms.

Heero flew the both of them over toward the protective dome surrounding Reis, Ayla, and Clow, and gently set Sakura down to stand on her own two feet and proceeded to recall his own Wing Card. "We're in a bit of trouble," commented Heero as he watched all the remaining black magicians gather together and form a line behind the Yellow, Green, and Blue sorcerers. Heero assumed this new formation was for intimidation purposes, for he could find no real viable strategic reason for discarding their previous strategy of surrounding their outnumbered opponents.

"The black magicians got both of my copies," said Sakura. Her second clone had been quickly destroyed once it had lost its extra speed and maneuverability granted to it by the Fly Card.

"Mine too," responded Heero. "The three of us barely had enough power to keep even with those two. So when I left to save you, my clones were quickly defeated."

"So what do we do now?"

"We only have to hold them off for another five or six minutes," responded Heero. "If we stay defensive we may be able to survive long enough for Reis and Ayla to get away, and then we can make our own escape."

"But what if they split their attention and attack the shield while we are running away from the attacks aimed at us?"

"We won't be running away," answered Heero. "We'll use our offense as our defense."

Sakura tilted her head toward her boyfriend and gave him a look that showed her complete and utter confusion at what Heero was talking about.

"Obviously we can't use our main defensive Clow Cards," began Heero. "And as you said, we can't run away, so our only real options would be to defeat all our enemies at once, or use our offensive spells to simply destroy all the incoming attacks."

"I don't think we can possibly defeat all of them at once," commented Sakura.

"I agree," said Heero. "I'm thinking our best option is to deflect or destroy anything they send our way. We'll fight separately against multiple attacks, and combine our power to defeat the more powerful focused attacks."

"I want to try something first," said Sakura as she suddenly began walking toward the large group of enemy magicians.

"_What are you planning?"_ asked Heero in a slightly confused, but still confident, tone of thought.

"_I'm going to talk to them,"_ answered Sakura. _"Maybe I can convince them to stop their attack, or at least explain to me why it is so necessary."_

"_You really believe diplomacy will work in a situation like this?"_

"_I don't know,"_ replied Sakura. _"But I have to try. Besides, worse case scenario, they don't stop their assault, but at least I would have bought us another couple minutes."_

Heero couldn't quite keep the slight smirk from appearing at the corner of his lips _"You're really turning into quite an adept strategist, Sakura-san. But be careful. We don't know much about our enemy and from this range I can't guarantee I'll be able to protect you as well as I'd like."_

Sakura turned her head around momentarily and let a smile cross her cute lips as she gave Heero a wink. _"Hai, Heero-kun."_

Sakura continued toward the group of magicians until she was about halfway between Heero and her enemies. Holding her hands open and to her sides to show she meant no aggression, Sakura began to speak. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because!" came a booming voice from a direction Sakura couldn't determine. She had been expecting a response from either the Blue, Green, or Yellow Magicians, so when the voice from nowhere suddenly filled the air, Sakura was caught by surprise and instinctively raised her staff to a ready position.

Moments later a bright beam of light appeared right in front of the Blue, Green, and Yellow Magicians, and from within the folds of golden energy the form of a fairly large stature man appeared. "They upset the balance, and now they must die." When the man was finished talking, his energy cloak dissipated and Sakura could finally see a large man dressed in gold with a red velvet cape and golden scepter and crown. Based on the man's outfit and the fact that all magicians took a knee when he appeared, Sakura could only guess this man was the country's King. "That thing they have created is an abomination. Whether on the side of good or evil, it will disrupt the balance and will thus be the end of the world as we know it."

"But Clow will be -"

"_Sakura!"_ interrupted Heero. _"We cannot reveal the future. Remember that."_

"_Hai, Heero-kun. Sorry."_ "I can understand you being worried that the child of Reis and Ayla will be evil and disrupt the balance of power toward the dark side, but both Reis and Ayla are good, so the odds are their child will have guidance to become a good magician. So even if he does upset the balance toward good, how can that be a bad thing?"

"The balance of magic is the most delicate of circles in the universe," explained the King. "Even if the balance shifts toward the side of good, it still destroys the delicate equilibrium. It leaves all the positive magical energy in the world in the hands of a single individual, causing the magical abilities of the rest of the good magicians to dissipate to compensate for the excess of power in the overly powerful good magician. Now, while this is not necessarily a bad thing at the time of occurrence since that single magician should possess enough power to defeat all the darkness in the world, when the lifespan of that single sorcerer ends, it takes all the powers of good with it, leaving the world of magic to be dominated by the remaining forces of darkness. Henceforth, the upsetting of the balance ultimately ends in destruction no matter whether the shift is toward the positive or the negative."

Sakura found herself speechless. For some reason she hadn't been expecting such a complex, yet completely sensible, answer. On several occasions she opened her mouth to speak, but each time, she found she really had no words to say. She had no idea of what type of comeback to say to the King and so her ability to try to argue his point was completely gone.

"_You know, Sakura-san,"_ commented Heero through telepathy. _"I don't think we were giving Reis and Ayla their due respect. They must have known all that information the King just said, and yet they still managed to find a way to avert disaster. I can only assume they must have found a way raise Clow to make sure he was neither on the side of good or evil, but just used his power to increase his knowledge of the force of magic while remaining more or less neutral."_

"_That also explains why Kero-chan always used to complain how Clow possessed the power to make the world a much better place, but never made use of it,"_ agreed Sakura._ "He always said it was because Clow Reed had a demented personality, but now it seems as though there was conscious effort behind the way he turned out as a person."_

During the entirety of Heero and Sakura's short psychic conversation, the King held a smirk of superiority on his face. "It seems that although you have a great deal of power, you are not very well knowledgeable in the discipline of magic. You are defending ones who will be the key to not only the destruction of the rest of the world, but of the destruction of your own powers as well." The King paused to allow his words to sink in, oblivious to the fact that both Heero and Sakura knew what the King was worried about was never going to come to pass. "And for your poor judgment you will befall the same fate as those you are protecting."

In one swift motion, the King swung his scepter in front of his body and from the tip of the golden rod, a fast moving ball of fire was shot straight at Sakura. With her mind still whirling from all the things the King had previously said, Sakura was caught a bit off guard and left herself with no chance to defend herself. Luckily for her, however, Heero had somehow predicted the King's move and had cast the Li Clan wind spell he had learned at the same moment the King had attacked. The spell was not nearly powerful enough to destroy the incoming fireball, but it was strong enough to change its path, causing the fireball to fly up and to the right of Sakura's position, finally detonating on a nearby tree.

Unfortunately, Heero had not seen or been expecting the King to have actually fired two balls of energy, one right behind the first. The second attack was much smaller and less volatile, making it very inconspicuous in its position of following in the primary energy ball's wake. Again, Sakura found herself with no chance to move out of the way, but this time knew Heero wasn't going to be able to save her. Strangely enough though, a very similar occurrence took place. The only difference was that this time the deflecting attack was not wind based, but instead was a fire attack, and instead of coming from Heero's direction it came from almost directly to the side of Sakura, and apparently from a somewhat elevated position.

Sakura was about to look toward the origination of the attack that had saved her life, but before she had a chance, it became obvious who the caster was. With a loud growl and heavy thump, the true form of Cerberus suddenly landed in a protective stance right in front of his Mistress. "You will not harm my Mistress," he snarled.

"Instead it will be you who is destroyed," came another voice from up in the air. Milliseconds later an array of blue energy arrows showered through the sky, piercing through and immobilizing almost half a dozen of the black magicians gathered around the King. In a much more calm and collected manner than Cerberus, Yue glided down to the Earth to stand next to his counterpart in front of the Card Mistress.

"Kero-chan! Yue-san!" exclaimed Sakura when her two guardians landed in front of her position.

"Are you alright Mistress?" inquired Yue in his usual calm and collected tone.

"Hai," Sakura answered while vigorously shaking her head. "Thank you." It took Sakura a moment to fully comprehend that Yue and Cerberus didn't belong to this timeline. "How did you two get here?"

"I wanted to ask that same question to you," answered Cerberus. "I had been sleeping peacefully all alone in your house when I felt a strong burst of power. Then the next thing I knew I was somewhere completely different."

"It seems that however you got to this time, it pulled us along with you," continued Yue. "We would have found you much sooner Mistress, but the excess of magical energy during this time made it much more difficult to pinpoint your personal magical signature."

"What is going on here anyway?" asked Cerberus, knowing nothing of the battle he blindly had jumped into to save his Mistress.

"We're protecting the future of Clow Reed," answered Heero as he quickly made his way to their position.

"Protecting Clow?" repeated Cerberus. "I don't see Master Clow anywhere."

"He's with his parents inside the shield Heero-kun and I made," answered Sakura.

"So this time is before the days of Clow's dominance of the magical world," concluded Yue. He then looked at Heero with a wary eye. "And who are you?"

"This is Heero Yuy," introduced Sakura, just realizing that Heero had never met either Yue or Yukito. "Heero, this is Yue. And you know Kero-chan."

Heero simply nodded an acknowledgement at Yue, who was currently still eyeing him cautiously. Heero then looked at Cerberus. "You grew a lot in the last few months."

"This is my true form!" emphatically stated Cerberus. "And now that you have seen me in all my greatness, you had better respect the Great Cerberus unlike that stupid Gaki friend of Sakura's."

"Kero-chan! Stop it!" scolded Sakura. "This isn't the time."

"The Mistress is correct," agreed Yue. "Right now is the time to move." Yue suddenly took off upwards, taking Sakura into his arms in the process in order to pull her out of the way of the shower of incoming energy attacks.

Cerberus' face contorted in surprise as he caught sight of the fast approaching attacks. He and Heero, who had called back the Wing Card again, barely had enough time to fly out of the way before the attacks all impacted the position they had previously been occupying. "Thanks for the warning Yue!" said Cerberus sarcastically as he wagged his tail around wildly to put out the small fire that had singed the tip of it as he was flying away.

Sakura was the first to notice that the attacks that had almost incinerated them had come only from the remaining black magicians of the group. It took no time for her to realize that the attacks had been merely a distraction as she saw the Blue Magician, the Green Magician, and the King himself all gathering up immense power and firing a single combined energy beam straight at the dome protecting the Reed family.

"No!" exclaimed Sakura as she called forth the Fly Card and flew straight out of Yue's embrace and right into the path between the Reis and Ayla and the incoming deadly attack.

"Sakura!" exclaimed Heero loudly in a rare display of overtaking emotion. The second he saw Sakura fly toward the beam of energy, Heero took off right after her. Since Sakura had noticed the attack and taken action that fraction of an instant before Heero, she had time to land on the ground near the shield before the attack got there. However, Heero, though flying at top speed, was just barely staying in front of the wave of energy. With no good options available to him, Heero did exactly what anyone who knew him would think he would do. Pouring all his energy into making himself fly just that much faster, Heero ran straight into Sakura, wrapping his arms tightly around the petite girl and putting his body directly between the girl he had come to care so much for, and the imminent danger approaching from behind.

With a force just as powerful as one would expect from seeing the attack, the combined energy of the King and the Blue and Green Magicians exploded on Heero and Sakura's position, engulfing the entire battlefield in a thick layer of smoke and flame.

"Sakura! Mistress!" shouted Cerberus and Yue as they both elevated a bit to make certain they were out of the blast radius.

Both burning with rage, Cerberus and Yue turned toward the offending attackers to find the group looking up at them with smirks of confidence on their faces. With anger in their eyes, Cerberus prepared a powerful fireball, while Yue created a multi-arrow energy bow and aimed the attack right at the King's heart. The two guardians were about to fire when they noticed the gazes shift away from their direction and the smirks of confidence on their faces disappear and become replaced by looks of utter disbelief.

Cerberus and Yue followed the direction of the gazes of their enemies toward the position where Sakura and Heero had previously been. The look of disbelief plastered on all the magicians faces suddenly showed itself on the face of Cerberus and even Yue as they caught sight of what had happened within the area of destruction.

The smoke and flames that had been steadily expanding in a plume shape were now circling into a tornado and steadily getting smaller and smaller until it was centered around a bright glowing ball of energy. In an instant the tornado exploded and disintegrated in midair until all that was left was a floating oval shape of bright white light. The oval began to gradually get larger and larger until it became clear that the energy was not expanding, but unfolding from around itself to show its actual true size. From within the folds of white energy appeared a single figure. At first Cerberus and Yue were certain the figure was Heero, for it seemed to be of a similar size and build. That thought, however, quickly disappeared upon closer inspection. It turned out the figure looked to be of Heero's size because it had been hunched slightly, so when the it righted itself and stood straight, it was not substantially, but still clearly larger than the stature of Heero. The second obvious tell was the hair. Instead of Heero's short and slightly ruffled hair, the figure had a enormous bunch of spiky hair on it's head that went almost down to its waist. It was impossible to determine any more specific details of the figure, for the glow from what were now obviously giant wings, was disrupting the view.

It didn't take much longer for the energy wings to completely unfold, and once complete, what hovered midair in front of everyone was a sight to behold. The figure, who was no longer glowing, turned out to look male and was fairly sizable in stature with rippling muscles, long spiky auburn hair, and a pair of stark white wings, each of which was at least three times that of the figure itself.

The daunting figure stayed motionless with closed eyes, and without so much as even a quiver of his lips, the echo of a voice could be heard throughout the minds of all the magicians in the area. _"Leave,"_ said the voice in a most calm and confident tone. _"This is no longer a matter of your concern. Leave now, and your lives will be spared. Try to test our power, and you will be destroyed without hope of absolution. The choice is yours, but be warned; do not test us."_

"Nobody orders me around!" challenged the King. "And I submit to nothing! Not even you!" With that exclamation of his own power, the King focused his own magical power and created a torso sized black energy ball. Holding his creation above a single open palm above his head, the King smirked confidently at the new being. "If you are as powerful as you are boasting then you should be able to tell what type of energy this is. And you should know, that anything that touches this attack will be wiped forever from the universe!" Without waiting for an answer, the King hurled his powerful attack straight at his new floating enemy. "Now die!"

The black destruction ball shot through the air at the floating winged figure at incredible speed, but he made no motion that it was about to move out of the way of the deadly attack. Instead, the figure slowly opened his eyes, allowing it to be seen that his left eye was a soul piercing cobalt blue, and the right was of a enchanting emerald green. _"We warned you."_ Placing his left palm out in front of his body the figure kept motionless and allowed the supposedly unblockable energy to continue to creep toward his position. When the attack was mere centimeters away from the new figure's hand, it suddenly stopped, and an instant later the ball of black energy imploded upon itself and disappeared.

The King, who had created the attack, was visibly and audibly in a state of disbelief. "That's impossible!" he cried out. "That attack is unstoppable. It destroys all matter in its path. Nothing can stop it!"

"_We give you one final warning. Leave this place now, or die."_

"Never!" In a rash flurry of movements, the King fired countless attacks of different sizes, colors, shapes, and elements at the floating figure.

Again, the figure did not move. Instead, it simply left its hands at its side and allowed all the attacks to come. One by one the attacks impacted and exploded harmlessly against different portions of the figures body, not a single one doing any damage whatsoever. When the last of the attacks had exploded harmlessly against him, the figure placed it's right palm out in front of its body, aimed directly at the King. _"You had your chance. Not adhering to our warnings will be your final mistake."_ In an flash, what appeared to be six Clow Cards appeared in the air and surrounded the outstretched palm of the figure. With a deafening boom, an enormous energy beam composed up of two shades of blue, two shades of red, a hint of yellow, and one distinct white streak, erupted out of the palm of the figure and shot down toward the King. The beam moved almost faster than the eye could follow, and in an instant the unimaginably powerful attack exploded directly upon the King's chest.

The King never even had a chance to scream as the energy attack wiped his entire existence from the face of the Earth in a single moment. _"We have no wish to kill anyone else, so it is suggested you leave now before you are destroyed."_

Seeing their King so swiftly and easily defeated, all the rest of the magicians needed absolutely no more incentive to retreat. Numerous flashes of light spotted the battlefield as each magician teleported himself and as many of his unconscious comrades he could away from the monstrously powerful being.

At that same moment, Yue and Cerberus also noticed a bright flash from within the shield Heero and Sakura had erected around the Reed family, and a moment later all the contents of the field, including the family, had disappeared. Strangely, they both found themselves wondering if the Reed family had even seen the indescribable scene that had unfolded in their presence.

Once again, Yue and Cerberus shifted their attention back toward the strange powerful being floating in midair. They cautiously flew over to the being, making sure to show they meant to aggression in case he didn't know whether they were friend or foe. "Who are you?" asked Yue in his normal composed tone of voice.

"_We have no name,"_ answered the being through telepathy. The voice that Yue heard within his head was unrecognizable, and yet at the same time, it sounded very familiar. _"But if you must refer to us as something, we are those whom you used to know as the Master and Mistress of the Clow Cards; Kinomoto Sakura and Heero Yuy."_

This revelation was obviously shocking to the Guardian, though the more Yue thought about it, the more it made sense. Physically, the being didn't quite look like either Heero or Sakura, but upon close inspection, there were numerous aspects of both Clow Masters present. The body type itself had similar proportions to that of Heero, though noticeably larger in almost all aspects, including height and muscle size. The hairstyle of the being was substantially different than both Heero and Sakura, however, like the body, there were a couple aspects from the Clow Masters that could be seen. The spiky texture of the hair was much like that of Heero's, and the color was an exact match to Sakura's beautiful auburn locks. These similarities were the more subtle physical traits the new being shared with the two of whom it was born. The most noticeable and striking resemblance was the eyes. It was almost eerie to look into the two different colored eyes of the being. It wasn't the different colors of the eyes that was so striking, but the two completely different looks deep within each pool that was most evident. The left eye was of the identical deep cobalt blue and held the exact same piercing stare that Heero was so well known for. Likewise, the right eye was not only the identical emerald green color as Sakura's shimmering pools, but also held that same caring, but determined gaze. Even the telepathic voice of the new being had traces of both Heero and Sakura. What Yue had previously thought to be unrecognizable, and yet familiar at the same time, was in fact two voice overlaid together into one. The familiarity came from being able to distinguish the unmistakable voice of his beloved Mistress in synchronization with the less familiar voice of Heero.

Unlike Yue, Cerberus was having a much more difficult time processing the new information he had just been given. In more of a stutter than his real speaking voice, Cerberus tried to voice his questions. "But…What…How….How did…What are…How!?"

It wasn't clear whether he was unable to, or just choosing not to, but the being again responded in the Guardians' minds instead of vocally. _"The reasoning and the ability is beyond your comprehension. All you can understand is we are of one body, one mind, and one spirit."_

Without waiting for any response or even another question, the new combined Heero and Sakura being instantaneously put a little distance between itself and the two Guardians. The gigantic wings attached to its body once again began to glow and changed back into pure white energy. These two energy wings proceeded to slowly wrap themselves around the body of the figure, until all that was left was what looked like a giant energy orb floating in the sky.

"What's going on?" asked Cerberus to himself, since he knew Yue would never answer any question he didn't have the answer to.

However, luckily for Cerberus he didn't have to wait long for an answer to appear. The energy orb gradually reduced in both size and brightness until it was not much larger than the size of a person and was glowing with only a faint white hue. The orb flickered a couple times, showing the dim outline of the shadow of two people. When the orb flickered a final time and dissipated into thin air, the unconscious figures of Heero and Sakura appeared and began to fall quickly toward the ground.

With lightning fast reflexes, Yue swooped in and gently caught the falling form of Sakura in his strong arms. Reacting a moment slower than Yue, Cerberus followed his counterpart and plucked Heero out of the sky. Both Guardians carefully descended down to the Earth and set the unconscious teenagers on the ground. From what they could tell, nothing seemed to be physically wrong with either the Clow Mistress or Master, so the Guardians had nothing they could do except wait around for the two teens to wake up.

Heero was the first of the two to begin to return to the land of the living. Opening his eyes, he discovered he had a tremendous headache, and, while holding his head in his hands in an attempt to alleviate some of the pain in his head, Heero slowly got up into a sitting position. When his vision finally cleared and his headache was at a manageable level, the Clow Master took a moment to discern his surroundings. The first thing he took notice of was the form of Cerberus towering above him, looking down with eyes of curiosity. He also took note of Yue standing a little farther back, but also looking his direction, seemingly waiting for something. As he turned his head to scan the area, Heero saw the sleeping form of Sakura down at his side, and took notice that all the magicians, and the Reed family, were nowhere in sight.

Heero was about to make an inquiry as to what the situation was to Cerberus and Yue, when his peripheral vision caught some slight movement in Sakura's form, telling him that she was slowly waking up. Cerberus and Yue also took notice of Sakura's stirring, and shifted their attention from Heero to their beloved Card Mistress.

When Sakura began to gain consciousness, just like Heero, she too found herself with a terrible headache. Letting a soft groan of muted pain escape her lips, Sakura kept her eyes shut and waited for her head to clear. When the pain had subsided, and Sakura was finally able to open her eyes, she glanced around and found Heero, Cerberus, and Yue all looking down at her. With Heero's help, she managed to get up on her feet, but stayed with her weight resting on boyfriend to make sure she stayed up.

"Are you feeling well, Mistress?" asked Yue in a voice that was similar to his usual monotonous tone, but seemed to hold just a hint of concern.

"Hai," she answered. "Just feeling a little weak is all."

"What exactly happened to you two?"

Sakura and Heero looked first to each other and then back at Cerberus before giving the same answer they had given while joined as one body. "We became of one body, one mind, and one spirit."

"What does that mean?" Cerberus asked, still completely confused at the whole situation and not liking it.

"It means what it means," answered Heero. "It is a part of who we are."

"That makes no sense!" exclaimed Cerberus. The Guardian of the Seal was beginning to get very agitated at the lack of a comprehensive response and it was showing in his constant fidgeting and quickly rising temper.

"I'm sorry, Kero-chan," calmed Sakura. "But it is something that words just cannot explain. It is what it is, and that is all I can tell you."

"Leave it alone, Cerberus," interjected Yue. "If we were meant to have all knowledge, we would know what happened." Yue turned toward Sakura and Heero and continued to speak. "Your powers have changed since you came to this time."

"Hai. Ayla-sama helped Heero-kun and myself increase our powers so that we would have a better chance of standing up to the King's sorcerers."

"And that fusion of bodies. Did that change your individual powers?"

"No," said Heero. True to form, Heero offered no more information on the subject.

"That last attack," continued Yue, seemingly oblivious to the statement made by Heero that most others would have thought was rude. "It was Clow Card based if I am not mistaken. What was it that you did?"

Sakura pulled out three of her Sakura Cards, and Heero pulled out three of his own Heero Cards. Yue took a look at all six cards held by the two Masters. In Sakura's hand were the Firey, the Watery, and the Thunder, while Heero held the Magma, the Ice, and the Tsunami. "The attack was from all six," explained Sakura.

"I felt the power of that attack," said Yue. "It was more than these six cards put together currently hold."

"Our power when we are joined is substantially greater than our combined power when we are separated," explained Heero.

"And the Cards' power is directly linked to the power of the Master," finished Yue. "Impressive."

"I still don't understand what is going on here," said Cerberus. He had been listening intently to the conversation, but his mind just couldn't comprehend how things had happened, thus leaving him still very confused.

"I'm sorry, Kero-chan," consoled Sakura as she gave the giant beast a hug around his neck. "But there isn't a way for us to explain it."

"Well, can you at least explain how we got here in the first place?" Cerberus asked.

"Partially," answered Heero. "I believe it is because of a Clow Card."

"When we were looking around the ruins of this city back in the Sanc Kingdom with Otousan, we just barely felt a Clow Card," answered Sakura. "Then while we were looking for it, we somehow got –"

In the middle of her sentence, Sakura suddenly stopped, and both she and Heero began scanning the area intently. Cerberus and Yue looked at the pair questioningly until a moment later they realized what the Clow Masters were doing. It took them a second, but they too finally noticed the feeling of a nearby Clow Card. Cerberus was a little surprised, for he hadn't realized the time had passed when Sakura had become more aware of the presence of magic that Yue and himself.

The group never even moved from their position to look for the Card, when the same intense and overpowering feeling that had presented itself when Heero and Sakura were first pulled back in time, emerged again. Just like the first time, the magical feeling inside the heads of Heero and Sakura became so overpowering they both shut their eyes and grasped their heads in pain.

When this happened, Yue and Cerberus became immediately concerned. For some reason, the two could not feel the same overpowering magical senses that Heero and Sakura were experiencing, so they could only wonder why all of a sudden the Card Master and Mistress suddenly grasped their heads in pain. The two Guardians wanted to make their way over to check on Sakura, but before they got a chance to move, they each suddenly disappeared from sight.

The disappearance of Yue and Cerberus went completely unnoticed by Heero and Sakura, as they were both unable to see due to their tightly shut eyes. It wasn't long before both Heero and Sakura had once again passed out from the power of the Clow Card, and went tumbling forward through time without their knowledge.

When Heero and Sakura finally awoke again, they found themselves back in the present, lying on the ground in front of the ruins where they had first encountered the unknown Clow Card. The couple helped each other get to their feet, since they were both still woozy from the effects of the time traveling, and scanned the area. They saw no trace of Yue and Cerberus, but did catch sight of a Clow Card sitting on the steps beneath their feet. Heero slowly reached down and picked up the cause of so much trouble, and read it's title. "The Past," Heero stated.

"Guess that makes sense," added Sakura. Taking a look at the picture, Sakura saw the card was made from the powers of the Return. "I wonder what happened to Yue and Kero-chan."

"They were probably sent back to wherever they were when the Past pulled them back through time," answered Heero. "If you notice, we got sent back to the same position we were in when we got pulled through, not where we would be based on our position when we left the past."

"How long do you think we were gone?"

Heero took a look around, and tried to remember around what time it had been when they had first encountered the Past Card. "I'm not sure we were gone for any time at all," answered Heero. "I believe when we left this time period, it was early afternoon, and if you look up, the sun is still overhead. So if we were gone for some time during this period, it couldn't have been for long."

Sakura let out a groan of exhaustion. "Then let's go back to the castle. I'm tired, and this has been the longest no time that I have ever spent."

Heero couldn't help but laugh out loud at Sakura's comment, and gave his girlfriend a short, but sweet, kiss on the lips before taking her hand in his own and finding their way back to Sakura's father and then back to the Peacecraft Castle.

Author's Notes:

First of all, I'd like to apologize to those who have been following my fic for how long it took me to finish this section. Hopefully the length of it makes up for a little bit of the delay. If you all remember that earlier section of this chapter that was about Ami and Syaoran, well, I have officially decided to make that, and the future sections following that plot line, a side-chapter following the entirety Heero/Sakura sections. I have not done this yet, but I plan to do so as soon as I finish the next Ami/Syaoran section. Well, that's all for now, so hope you all are doing well. Bye!


	45. Sakura Goes to the Sanc Kingdom Side I

Chapter 14 Side Story: Syaoran and Ami's Return to Hong Kong

Hong Kong, China

"Are you enjoying your stay?" Li Yelan asked within the privacy of her own quarters.

"Very much, Li-sama," answered Ami. "It's an honor to be invited back."

Yelan gave an uncharacteristic, but very genuine, smile to the blue haired teen whom her son called his girlfriend. For some reason, Ami reminded Yelan a little of Sakura. Not that they looked alike, or even really acted alike, but they both seemed so innocent and naïve to certain situations, that Yelan found them comparable. "I am glad that you and my son are getting along so well, but I do have a confession to make. I didn't only invite you here so that my daughters and I could see you again. I sent for you because I need something from you."

When Syaoran had first told Ami that his mother wanted her to come back to Hong Kong for a visit, both she and Syaoran had been slightly skeptical that it would merely be a social visit, although neither one told the other about their concerns. However, Ami had been at the Li Clan Estate for three days now, and until now, nothing had happened to make Ami believe this was anything other than the Li Clan wanting to see Syaoran's girlfriend again. Because of this, the thought that Yelan or the Elders had wanted Ami for something had slowly drifted from her head, so when Yelan had informed her she did indeed invite Ami down for some ulterior motive, the Senshi found herself a little surprised. "You need me for something?" Ami was finally able to ask.

Yelan nodded her head. "My son has informed me of your ongoing battle with the demon Charon, as well as his inability to fight effectively against him. Since it appears that Charon has specifically targeted my son and nephew for assassination, it is imperative that Xiao Lang learn some new fighting techniques to defend himself."

"So you want me to try to stay out of the way and not distract him," Ami finished for her in a slightly dejected voice.

To Ami's surprise, Yelan shook her head no. "Quite the opposite actually. Since Charon is a demon who's power comes from the element of fire, his only weakness is the counter element; water. Unfortunately, the Li Clan's main weakness is that we have little to no control over the element of water. This makes Charon a very difficult opponent for someone of the Li Clan to defeat. I have not yet told Xiao Lang about my plans yet, but what I want from you is for you to help him learn to control the element of water."

This new news shocked Ami greatly. When she heard that Yelan had wanted to talk to her about something, Ami had immediately assumed it would be some type of bad news. "But I myself don't really understand why I can control water in the first place," said Ami sadly as she bowed her head to avoid looking Yelan directly in the eyes. "How do I teach Syaoran-kun to control something when I don't even know how I am able control it?"

Yelan smiled slightly at the mix of innocence and modesty her son's girlfriend was displaying. "I have a feeling that you understand your own powers much more than you yourself realize," answered Yelan. Ami looked up at the older wiser woman sitting in front of her with some confusion in her eyes. "You are the Mercury Princess after all. You are the sole person who has the greatest potential for control over the element of water on the planet, which, by the way, is one of the reasons the Elders were so quick to accept you as a possible life companion for Xiao Lang." As Yelan continued talking, a blush spread across Ami's face at the mention of being a possible life companion to Syaoran. "Because you have so much power in the required field and you seem to have such a strong bond with my son, you are the perfect person to guide Xiao Lang to find the control he will need."

The realization that this was not necessarily going to be an easy task for her, Ami began to get serious about the matter. It made her happy that Syaoran's mother seemed to like and even respect her, but Ami did not have the time to think about the subject for too long. "So what do I do to help Syaoran-kun?"

"Elders Qian Louh and Fan Fu will instruct you on how to combine your powers. This is the hardest part of the training, but it should be a little easier for you two since your emotional bond seems strong enough. After that is done, it is mostly guided collective meditation so that Syaoran may follow your energy to find the essence of the water element. Finally, it is merely up to Xiao Lang to train enough, preferably with your assistance, to gain full control over the element."

As Ami listened intently at the explanation of Yelan's plan, one part in particular caught her attention. "Li-sama, Syaoran-kun and I have already combined magical auras before." Judging by the facial expression Yelan demonstrated at hearing the news that Ami and Syaoran had already combined magical energy, it was clear it was not something she had heard before. "I would have thought Syaoran would have mentioned it to you before."

"As would I," said Yelan, deep in thought. "I suppose I underestimated the bond between the two of you. Otherwise I would have asked him directly if anything like that had occurred." After a short pause, Yelan continued. "Tell me, when did the combining of power occur?"

"We have combined auras on two separate occasions," answered Ami. "The first time was by accident when we were lending power to Sakura-chan and Heero-kun so that they could find the Night Card. The second time was intentional, and it was to increase our power in order to defeat the Ice Card."

"Then it must not have been a fluke," said Yelan, more to herself than anyone else. Yelan then looked up at Ami with just a hint of a smile on her elegant face. "Well, that just makes the training that much easier."

"If it is alright," said Ami. "I have a couple questions of my own." Ami continued after Yelan nodded her head, indicating it was alright for Ami to ask. "Is it really true that I have the greatest control over water of everybody?"

Yelan nodded her head. "Absolutely. In fact, from the perspective of most magic users, you are the most powerful of all the Senshi. In some ways you even outclass Sailor Moon herself."

"Really?" asked Ami in amazement. "How is that possible? I thought all of us had the same amount of potential."

"All the Senshi do have the same amount of magical potential, and that amount is definitely less than that of Sailor Moon, however, none of the other Senshi can control all their power," explained Yelan. "Mars, Jupiter, and Venus all have their powers governed by certain emotions. Sailor Moon had her power governed not by a single emotion, but still by emotions in general. This means that none of them can reach their full potential in just any situation. However, the Mercury power is a little different. I, myself, don't understand exactly why, but it seems that you, since you inherited the Mercury Princess power, have the ability to reach your maximum energy potential without having to resort to feeding off an emotion. In fact, if I recall correctly, you can also reach your full potential without even being in Senshi form. It would take a lot of training for you to learn to control all your power without being bound by the powers of Sailor Mercury, but it is possible."

Ami wasn't quite sure why, but she felt strangely proud that her magic could be viewed as more powerful than any of her friends. As she thought about it some, what Yelan was saying made perfect sense. Whenever all the Senshi had been in a fight together, Ami always felt that her own powers didn't increase during the fight like the others' did. Her own power growth seemed to be a more continuous gradual increase as opposed to the power jumps her friends had experienced. Before this had always made her feel like she was the weakest of the group, but now that Yelan had explained the situation she liked the fact that she no longer had to feel like the weak link. Quickly regaining her train of thought, Ami asked the second question she wanted to ask earlier. "My other question was how did Charon escape anyway?"

"In truth, that is a slight mystery to us as well," answered Yelan. "There are only two ways that Charon could have escaped from the magical prison he was entrapped in. The first would be for him to gain enough strength to break free. We feel, however, that is unlikely he could have gotten powerful enough within the bindings to break free so quickly. The second possibility is that someone cast a counter spell that released him. This option is also unlikely, since the spell my brother and his wife cast is a very rare and advanced spell that very few people have the power or knowledge to cast. Thus, the counter spell is equally as challenging to cast, and therefore there are very few magicians in today's world that would be able to release the demon."

Ami thought about what Yelan's answer to her question for a moment before giving her own thoughts on the matter. "If those are indeed the only two ways that Charon could have been released, then I think it is more probable that someone found a way to release him." Yelan didn't quite look convinced at Ami's decision, so she explained herself. "If Charon had released himself, there would be no reason for him to only seek out Syaoran-kun and Heero-kun. I could understand him being angry at the entire Li Clan, or Heero's parents if they were still alive, but there is no reason he would go specifically after Syaoran-kun and Heero-kun."

"So you are saying that some enemy of Xiao Lang and Xiao Long released Charon to exact revenge for him?" finished Yelan. Ami nodded her head. "That just might be possible," said Yelan quietly while deep in thought. "I must talk to Qian Louh about this. Please inform my son about both his new training and your new theory on Charon. I will call for both of you later tonight to discuss these matters with both of you together."

As Yelan stood, Ami did the same, and Ami bowed respectfully to the mother of her boyfriend. "Hai, Li-sama." Ami then left Yelan's chambers and headed toward the training dojo in search of Syaoran. Ami figured he would probably still be training with Meilin and Wu-Fei.

It turned out Ami didn't have to wander as far as she anticipated, for as soon as she entered the main entryway of the building, she found Syaoran leaning against the wall, waiting. "How did it go?" Syaoran asked when Ami reached the spot where he was standing.

Although he didn't show it, Ami could tell that Syaoran was a little worried that his mother had some type of bad news for Ami. "Don't worry," responded Ami as she lightly kissed Syaoran on the lips. "It wasn't bad news."

Syaoran wasn't sure if he liked the fact that Ami seemed to be able to read him no matter what, or if it bothered him. But either way, he relaxed a bit at hearing that his mother didn't give Ami some type of bad news. "So what did Mother have to say?"

"She actually asked for my help with something," answered Ami proudly.

To this news, Syaoran couldn't help but look surprised. "Mother asked for your help?" Syaoran asked rhetorically, to which Ami nodded her head. "What did she want you to help her with?"

"Not help her. Help you."

"Help me?"

"Hai," confirmed Ami. "She asked me to help you learn to control the element of water, since she knows you have been having trouble fighting Charon since you can't control the one element he is weak against, and that you would be too proud and stubborn to ask for help yourself."

Syaoran found himself feeling a little embarrassed at the situation of needing his girlfriend to help him learn a new magical technique, but he was a sensible guy, and knew it was necessary. "So what do we have to do?"

"Well, it seems the hardest part of our training was supposed to be learning how to combine magical auras," said Ami with a shrug. "But since we already know how to do that, Li-sama said it is now mainly meditation and practice."

"I suppose this new training won't be all bad," answered Syaoran with a smile. "It means I have an extra excuse to spend more time with you."

Ami blushed at Syaoran's words and was about to open her mouth to say something, although she wasn't sure what yet, when Syaoran pulled her into a delicate embrace and silenced her with a tender kiss. While Syaoran was kissing her, Ami's mind went blank, just like it usually did when Syaoran kissed her. But a little while after Syaoran finished the kiss, Ami's mind returned and she remembered the other bit of news she was supposed to tell Syaoran. "Your mother also wanted me to inform you that it seems very plausible that Charon did not escape by his own power, but someone actually set him free."

"Someone actually let loose that demon on purpose?" said Syaoran in slight disbelief. "Who would have done such a thing, and why?"

"From what we could determine, it seems someone, I don't know who, but your mother seems to have a suspect in mind, released Charon in order to exact their own revenge against you and Heero-kun. I don't know the reason they want you two dead, but your mother said she was going to talk with Elder Qian Louh about it, and I assume she will tell us whatever they discern about the situation."

"You are probably right," answered Syaoran. "But in the meantime, would you care to join me for a walk along the beach?"

"Hai," said Ami happily. "I'd love to." Syaoran bent down and gave Ami another quick kiss on the lips before the couple headed hand in hand down to the sandy beach on the outskirts of the Estate.

Author's Notes:

This is the second posting of this same section, only I changed the position so that this section follows the sections involving Heero and Sakura in the Sanc Kingdom. The chapter itself doesn't have any real changes, I only decided to move where it was located within the posted story.


	46. Sakura Goes to the Sanc Kingdrom Side II

Hong Kong, China

"Auntie Yelan. Have you seen Syaoran-kun?" questioned Li Meilin as she spotted Li Syaoran's mother walking between the main house and one of the smaller buildings on the Li Estate.

"He's training down on the beach with Mizuno-san," Yelan answered. "It is best not to disturb them."

"Again?" whined Meilin. "But he's leaving today, and this is the last chance I have to see him since the Elders are sending me into town."

"I'm sorry, Meilin, but you know how important this training is for Xiao Lang."

"I know," Meilin conceded in a dejected tone of voice. "Can I at least go down there and check if Syaoran-kun is finished? I promise if he is still training I won't disturb him."

Li Yelan sighed an inaudible sigh at her niece's stubbornness when it came to her cousin. "Very well. But you must not interfere if Xiao Lang is still training."

"I promise!" stated Meilin emphatically, her voice and attitude changing from depressed to excited in a matter of moments. Meilin then turned around and ran full speed toward the beachside training area, forgetting to even thank her Auntie for telling her where Syaoran was.

In no time at all, Meilin was standing at the edge of the cliff overlooking the Li Clan outdoor training area. Seeing as how they were the only ones in the area, it was easy for Meilin to spot the two forms of Ami Mizuno and Li Syaoran. From what she could tell, it seemed as though they were both sitting and meditating, no doubt with Ami once again helping Syaoran familiarize himself with the water element. Despite what she had told her Auntie, Meilin was not about to let the last chance she had to see her favorite cousin before he went back to Japan, slip away. Making a lot of noise by going quickly, and accidentally almost falling down the cliff-side twice, Meilin hoped that her presence alone would startle Ami and Syaoran out of their meditative states. This way she could claim she hadn't 'purposely' interrupted the training session.

Meilin's plan worked to perfection, as Ami and Syaoran both opened their eyes at the sound of falling rocks and loud footsteps. Syaoran was the first to stand up and look around to find the source of the noise, and after spotting Meilin half running, half falling, down the path along the face of the cliff, he gave his girlfriend a hand and pulled her up to stand by his side. "I knew it was just a matter of time before Meilin showed up," commented Syaoran, knowing there was no way his cousin would let him leave without saying goodbye.

"You're important to her," replied Ami. "We were pretty much finished anyway."

Syaoran glanced down from the corner of his eye at the girl standing next to him. He couldn't help the slight smile that crept up at the edge of his mouth as he watched the rippling of the breeze in Ami's light blue summer dress and through her short aquamarine hair. As he watched his Mercury Princess girlfriend, Syaoran reflected on how strangely peaceful he felt after the events of the past week.

When they had first arrived back at the Li Clan Estate, they had been greeted by his sisters in what, for them, was the normal manner. Even though they were already in their twenties with families of their own, apparently Syaoran would always be their cute huggable little brother. So, as soon as he had stepped out of the limousine, all four bodies came flying through the air to suffocate him in a massive group hug. Following this, his sisters had greeted Ami in exactly the same manner, catching the teenage genius off-guard, since she had forgotten about the way she had been greeted by the girls the last time she had come. Meilin was only a step behind Syaoran's sisters, giving Syaoran a tight hug of happiness and then a friendly, though much more civil than Syaoran's sisters, hug to Ami. Once free from the clutches of his sisters, Syaoran and Ami made their way up to the house where Li Yelan was waiting. The elegant woman pulled Syaoran into a motherly embrace as she said hello to her only son, and returned Ami's formal bow as the Mercury Princess greeted her hostess.

The next few days had passed in a surprisingly normal fashion. Syaoran had been certain his mother had invited Ami down to Hong Kong for some purpose, but during the entire first few days at the Estate she had not made any indication whatsoever that this was anything but a social visit. They had spent a lot of the time in the city, shopping, sight-seeing, and catching up on news with Meilin, who turned out to be a little lonely since Wu-Fei had left for a while to help someone named Sally Po. Meilin knew he was coming back fairly soon, but found herself feeling just about as lost as she had back when Syaoran left way back in grade school. The time had passed by so quickly that Syaoran had almost completely forgotten his fears about his mother having an ulterior motive for the visit.

Until that one fateful day. On the morning of the fourth day of their stay, Li Yelan had sent for Mizuno Ami. At that moment, all Syaoran's anxiety and uncertainty about the trip came flooding back. If anyone had been able to read his mind and see how much of a nervous wreck he had been during the entire time Ami had been talking with his mother, they would have scoffed at the idea that he was to become the leader of the illustrious Li Clan.

Luckily for Syaoran, it turned out that there was no bad news whatsoever. In fact, it turned out to be more like good news. With his mother wishing for him to learn how to control the element of water, and more specifically wanting Ami to teach him, it just gave Syaoran an extra excuse to spend more time with his Senshi girlfriend. The couple had spent almost the entirety of their waking moments together working on getting Syaoran to find his way onto the path leading toward control of the element of water. Through combining powers and collective meditation, Syaoran was quickly learning to manipulate the one element who's power had previously eluded him. He did not yet have enough control over water to create an attack from nothing, but he was now able to mentally induce unnatural movements within existing bodies. He knew his time in Hong Kong would not be nearly enough to gain the mastery he needed over the element, so he and Ami were going to continue working on his training when they returned to Japan.

Syaoran came out of his reverie when Meilin crashed down at his and Ami's feet, breathing heavily from the energy she expended rushing down to the beach. Being as thoughtful as ever, Ami kneeled down and put a supporting arm around the worn out Meilin, helping her back to her feet as she continued to take in large gulps of air. "What were you rushing down here so fast for, Meilin?" asked Syaoran. "You know we aren't leaving for another few hours."

"I…know…" struggled out Meilin between gasps of air. "But the elders…gave me a…letter to give to…someone in the city. And…I didn't know…if I would be back…before you left."

"We wouldn't have left without saying goodbye, Meilin-chan," said Ami with a smile.

"Besides," continued Syaoran. "I know if you wanted to enough, you would have found a way to get back here in time, or would have just gone straight to the airport to see us off."

"Oh yeah," reflected Meilin. "I will already be in the city, so getting to the airport will be easy."

Neither Ami nor Syaoran missed Meilin's use of a future tense when referring to meeting them at the airport, and both suppressed a smile, knowing they were going to be seeing Meilin again at the airport in a few hours.

"In any case, I should be going then," said Meilin, in a much happier tone now that she had her plan to see Syaoran again all thought out.

"Bye Meilin," said Syaoran as he gave his favorite cousin a hug.

"I'm sure we'll see you again soon," added Ami, also giving the raven haired girl a hug.

Meilin dashed off back toward the Estate, apparently in a hurry to get her chore done quickly to make certain she would be able to make it to the airport in time to see off Ami and Syaoran.

After watching Meilin leave, Ami turned toward her boyfriend with a smile on her face.

"What?" asked Syaoran, a little confused as to what made the beautiful smile appear on his girlfriend's face.

"It's amazing how much she really loves you," Ami said. "Not necessarily in that way I understand she used to, but it's still clear just how much you mean to her."

"I'll always cherish Meilin," replied Syaoran. "But, she's going to have to accept that from this point on, there is someone I care for even more." Then, as if to demonstrate he truly meant what he said, Syaoran flashed Ami a pearly white smile, causing her to blush slightly, and then bent down and placed a long tender kiss on the Senshi's adorable lips.

The kiss only lasted a few seconds in reality, but in Ami's mind it lasted forever. Even after the kiss ended and Syaoran had pulled away, Ami stayed with her head tilted and eyes closed, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Syaoran's lips were no longer touching her own. She was so lost in the sensations that it took Syaoran's voice to bring her back to reality. "Sorry," Ami said, blushing a little more. "What did you say?"

Syaoran chuckled lightly as Ami's blush increased from embarrassment. "I asked if you were ready to move on to the next exercise."

Looking downward in a futile attempt to hide her blush from Syaoran, Ami nodded and reached toward her pocket to retrieve her transformation wand. At that moment Ami realized that her dress had no pockets, and with nowhere to put it, she had left her transformation wand back in her room at the Estate. "I forgot," Ami said. "I had no pockets to put it in, so I didn't bring my transformation wand. I'll go get it. Be right back."

As Ami turned to leave, she felt a gentle hand grab her arm. "Don't worry about it," said Syaoran. "We can do this another time."

"Sorry," Ami said a little dejected at her own carelessness. "I promised your mother I would do everything I could to help, and I'm not doing a very thorough job."

"You're doing more than enough," answered Syaoran as he pulled Ami into a light embrace. "I wish there was something more I could do in return."

"Just being able to help you is thanks enough," whispered Ami as she melted into Syaoran's body.

"Actually, maybe there is something I can do for you," said Syaoran as an idea suddenly struck him.

Ami pulled away from Syaoran's body a bit and looked up quizzically at her boyfriend. "What?"

"Well, I was thinking that maybe I can help you control some of your Mercury magical energy without you having to transform."

"You think that can work?"

"Absolutely," answered Syaoran. "You have actually already proved it can work since you can mentally focus your power without transforming. Learning to focus your power is usually the hard part, but since you can already do that at will, using the energy is simply the next step."

Ami thought about what Syaoran was saying for a moment, weighing what she felt were her possibilities of success. Eventually she decided that Syaoran was likely correct, and her possibility of success seemed fairly high. "So what do I do?"

Syaoran smiled at his girlfriend's love for knowledge. "Well, the first step is not much different from what we were just doing a moment ago. Concentrate your power, letting your energy surge throughout your body. Then, instead of concentrating the energy inwards as your normally would, turn that focus outward. All elemental magic is not the creation of an elemental power, but learning the control over the elemental power that exists in the world. As you become more advanced, a magician learns to control elements as small as the molecules in the air, so it appears as though the element was created out of nothing. But as a beginner, it is easier to learn to control a small amount of that element that is already apparent, such as a body of water or a small flame. In your case, I suggest concentrating on the small inlet of water we were using for my training."

Ami seated herself in her kneeling position she had been in before Meilin had arrived and prepared herself to begin. "You might as well practice at the same time," Ami mentioned when she noticed Syaoran was making no move to do anything but watch her. Syaoran smiled down at his kneeling girlfriend and moved into a similar position next to the Senshi at the edge of the inlet.

Finally prepared to resume their training, Ami and Syaoran both closed their eyes and their facial expressions changed to looks of seriousness and concentration. The breathing of both Ami and Syaoran slowed to a steady synchronous rhythm, as they put all of their concentration on their magical energies.

Had anyone been watching the pair of magicians practice, they would have found themselves very bored. For the next hour, it almost appeared as though Syaoran and Ami were not succeeding whatsoever in their attempts at honing their water elemental magic, for the water within the small inlet they were sitting at didn't appear to be moving even the slightest bit. It wasn't until they had been at it for close to an hour that Syaoran and Ami's efforts began to become apparent to the casual observer. The small inlet slowly began to create two miniature whirlpools, one in front of Ami, and the other near to Syaoran. Slowly but surely, the two whirlpools began to expand in diameter, until the edges touched and began to fight for more area to expand. The inability to move outward resulted in the two whirlpools moving in the vertical direction, becoming a pair of tightly spiraled waterspouts.

The mental battle between Ami and Syaoran continued to grow in intensity. Their struggle for control over the water within the inlet became so ardent, a point came when the small body of water could no longer contain the scuffle. The two clearly separated halves of the inlet water gradually melded with the coastal ocean water as the power and volume of the struggle began to increase. At a critical mass size, that was almost that of a medium sized building, the spiraling masses of water began to take on shape. Offshoots from each water funnel formed into limbs, while the main body of each water mass tightened itself inwards, to create a torso and finally a head. The sight of the two water figures was one to behold. Each stood over thirty feet tall and looked to have enough power to crush anything standing in its path. The two water figures stood motionless, minus the constant swirling of the water that made up their bodies, apparently sizing each other up. In a flash, both water elementals suddenly lunged at one another, each with a single fist raised, ready to deliver a thunderous punch.

However, as fast as the attack began, it was instantly interrupted when a raised voice pulled Syaoran and Ami out of their mental trances. As both their eyes shot open, their water creations simply liquefied and melded back into the water of the coastal ocean without so much as a noise or a splash. The couple turned their heads around to find the figure of Li Yelan towering over them, flanked on either side by a few other members of the Clan.

"Mother?" said Syaoran when he caught sight of who had interrupted his training. "What are you doing here?"

"I am stopping you two from doing something that could have endangered not only yourselves, but the entire estate," answered Yelan.

"Li-sama?" questioned Ami, who was confused at the woman's comment.

"I am impressed at the progress you both have made in your power," said Yelan. "However, you both focused so much on using as much of your power that you could, that you neglected to make sure you had complete control over your actions."

"I still don't understand," said Ami.

"Those water elementals you created," continued Yelan. "They were both only partially under your own control, and as I'm certain you both must know, two thirty foot elementals can cause a great amount of damage if they are not properly contained."

"Thirty feet!" exclaimed Ami. "The elementals were thirty feet?"

"You didn't know?" said Yelan, an uncustomary bewildered look appearing on her face.

"In my mind, the form I created was only a few inches in height," explained Ami.

"Xiao Lang?" asked Yelan as she turned toward her son.

"I'm sorry mother," said Syaoran, with a bit of shame in his voice. "I don't know what happened. I saw the same images in my mind as well."

"You both unintentionally combined your power," came a voice from behind where Li Yelan was standing. Yelan and the other Clan members parted in the center, allowing the eldest of the Li Clan Elders to walk through. Catching sight of Elder Qian Louh, both Ami and Syaoran made to stand up so they could bow correctly in respect to the Elder, however when they tried to move, they came to realize their muscles weren't functioning correctly. "You will both probably be unable to move much for the next hour or so. Your magical energy overwhelmed your physical and mental limitations, which is why you cannot move and why you did not mentally realize how much power you were each exerting. If Li Yelan had not stopped you both when she did, your magical energies would have begun to destroy your life force."

Ami's eyes widened in shock, while Syaoran looked down at the ground in shame. "So how do we keep this from happening again?" asked Ami.

"To be a little cliché," responded Qian Louh. "You must follow a simple well known saying. Practice makes perfect." Qian Louh allowed a slight amused grin to form at the corner of his mouth at seeing Ami's surprise at his use of such a simple bumper sticker slogan. "In other words, you will only be able to keep this from happening again by continuing to practice your magical control and honing your skills."

"Master Qian Louh?" asked Ami hesitantly.

"Yes, child?" the Elder answered.

"If what you say about what happened while Syaoran-kun and I were training is true, then isn't it dangerous for us to be attempting it again?"

"That is very true," said Qian Louh. "My suggestion would be to make sure someone powerful is there to assist, such as Clow Reed's reincarnate or the Clow Master and Mistress."

"Now, we'll leave you two to think for a while. When you are each once again able to move correctly, we will be awaiting you back at the house."

After Yelan and the others had left, Ami turned her head to look at Syaoran and found him still staring downcast at the ground. "Syaoran-kun? Is everything alright?"

Without looking up or even flinching a muscle, Syaoran gave his one word response. "Fine."

It didn't take a genius to know Syaoran was lying, and at that moment Ami would have given anything to be able to move so she could comfort her boyfriend. "Please talk to me, Syaoran-kun."

"I can't," responded Syaoran, still unmoving.

"We're in this together," pleaded Ami as tears began to form in her eyes, and her words began to come out in sniffles. "Please. I need to know what is bothering you."

At hearing Ami's pleas and the sound of her sniffling voice, Syaoran finally raised his head to peer into the watery eyes of beautiful Sailor Mercury. Surprising Ami a bit, Syaoran brought up his arm, as if he had been able to move the entire time, and gently wiped away the tears at the corner of her eyes and falling down her soft cheeks. "Don't cry."

"I just want to know what to do to help," sniffled out Ami, who despite Syaoran's gentle actions still couldn't stop her tears.

"I'm sorry," said Syaoran. "But there is nothing you can do this time."

"But-," began Ami before she was quickly silenced by Syaoran placing a finger tenderly on her soft lips.

"I am touched you are so concerned," continued Syaoran. "But, please, this is something I must do alone." Then, without waiting for another word from Ami, Syaoran stood up, and caringly picked Ami up into his arms since she could still not yet move.

Syaoran carried Ami back to the Estate in complete silence. Ami had almost a million things she wanted to say to Syaoran, but somehow, the look in his eye and the expression on his face stopped her from saying a word. Even when they got back to the house, Yelan could tell something was wrong between the couple, but knew enough to know that there was nothing for her to do or say in regards to the situation.

The entire drive to the airport, Syaoran still did not utter a single word, and even when Meilin met them at the gate to their private plane back to Japan, Syaoran simply stayed stone-faced and walked straight onto the plane without so much as an acknowledgement of her presence.

"What happened to Syaoran-kun?" Meilin asked Ami as she was giving her a hug goodbye.

"We had a little problem with our training," answered Ami.

"Are you both alright?" Meilin asked with concern.

"Physically we're fine," responded Ami. "But mentally, it affected Syaoran in a way I just don't understand."

"And he won't talk to you about it," finished Meilin. Ami just nodded her head slowly. "That sounds like Syaoran. Syaoran-kun takes his training very seriously, and he never discusses his problems with anyone."

"Will he get over it?" Ami asked with a twinge of hope in her voice.

Meilin placed a hand under Ami's chin and brought her head up to look her in the eye. "He cares for you," she said with a carefree grin on her face. "I promise you, his normal self will come back."

Ami smiled brightly at the thoughtful cheering up of Meilin and gave her a friendly embrace. "Thank you, Meilin-chan."

"I'm going to miss having you around, Ami-chan," answered Meilin as the two girls separated. "And make sure to take good care of Syaoran-kun since I am not there in Japan to keep an eye on you two." Meilin then winked at Ami and pulled her into one last goodbye embrace.

"Bye, Meilin-chan. I hope I'll see you soon," said Ami.

"You too," answered Meilin. After letting go of her new friend, Ami turned around and walked through the gate and onto the plane to go back to Japan, feeling much better after her talk with Meilin.

Author's Notes:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Here's the most recent and final section of this chapter. I apologize for taking so long to post something new, but unfortunately that is likely to happen again. Since I'm in my last year I have a whole bunch of work to do in school so it is likely going to take me a while to get another section written. Plus, I think I want to write some more in my other fic, so that might get done first. Hopefully some type of a posting will happen sooner than I expect, but until then, enjoy!


	47. Sakura's Friend's Mental Battle Part I

Chapter 15: Sakura's Friend's Mental Battle

Tokyo, Japan

"Jump!" yelled Sakura as she released her Jump Card just in time to leap out of the area of destruction that resulted from the monstrous punch from the Clow Card she was currently fighting. After a couple more hops, Sakura landed smoothly next to where Heero was standing. "Any ideas?"

"Physical attacks are risky, given this Card's power," answered Heero. "So I guess we are limited to magical attacks, even if they don't seem to be all that effective."

"I wish we knew how to combine our spirits like we did when we were fighting for Reed-sama," said Sakura.

"That would make things easier," agreed Heero. "Jump."

Heero's sudden comment caught Sakura a bit off guard, but quickly afterwards, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the Clow Card charging them again. Luckily for the Clow Masters, while their foe was overwhelmingly physically powerful, it was not particularly fast, so dodging the bull-rush type attacks were fairly simple. Both teens put some distance between themselves and the Clow Card before each pulling out an attack Card.

However, before either Heero or Sakura got a chance to use the attack they had each chosen, someone beat them to the punch. "Mercury Aqua Mirage!" The stream of water from Sailor Mercury's attack shot through the air at an incredible rate, and impacted hard on the form of the Clow Card. Unfortunately, the Clow Card's resistance to magic was not limited to merely that of the two Clow Masters, and shook off the powerful water attack as if it was nothing.

One effect Sailor Mercury's attack did have, was it shifted the Clow Card's attention from Heero and Sakura, to herself. Caught off guard by the ineffectiveness of her attack, Ami was slow to react when the large Clow Card charged in her direction. Luckily for her, however, Syaoran was standing by and easily picked her up and jumped the both of them a safe distance away.

"Thank you, Syaoran-kun," said Ami gratefully.

Before Syaoran could respond, both his and Ami's attention was diverted back to Sakura, who had released one of her own Sakura Cards in an attempt to slow down the massive opponent. The Wood Card, who, despite not being used very often anymore, was still one of Sakura's favorites due to its soothing feeling aura, wrapped its countless limbs around the giant figure, temporarily binding it to the ground in a weave of branches.

While the Clow Card was momentarily restrained, Heero and Sakura quickly made their way over to where Syaoran and Ami were standing. "We need to slow down the Card enough so that its power drops to a level where me and Heero can capture it," said Sakura. "I think our best chance is for me and Heero to combine power and you two to also combine power, and then attack simultaneously with our best attacks."

"Okay," agreed Ami.

"It won't work," interrupted Syaoran, causing all faces to turn towards him. "Well, the plan in theory should work, but it cannot be executed."

"Why not?" asked Sakura in confusion, thinking she had thought up as good a plan as possible.

"Because I can't use my magic," answered Syaoran, matter-of-factly.

"What!?" exclaimed Sakura in complete surprise. "What do you mean you can't use your magic?"

"For a while now," explained Syaoran. "I have been unable to call upon my magical energy."

"You somehow lost your magical powers?" asked Heero for clarification.

"No, I still have all my magical power," corrected Syaoran. "I can still use my own power to sense magical presences, but I have been unable to manifest it into physical form."

"You knew this when we left Hong Kong, didn't you?" questioned Ami. "That's why you have been acting so strange lately."

"Move," stated Syaoran instead of answering.

"Huh?" questioned Sakura and Ami simultaneously, since Syaoran's answer didn't make any sense. Only Heero had caught on to Syaoran's comment, having also been keeping an eye on their Clow Card opponent through his peripheral vision. Heero quickly picked up Sakura, while Syaoran picked up Ami, and the two cousins each jumped in opposite directions while watching the charging Clow Card's fist impact and explode the ground they had just been occupying.

The Clow Card began to turn around in Heero and Sakura's direction, but before it could charge again, another interruption presented itself.

"Venus Love and Beauty Shock!"

"Möko Takabisha!"

The combo attack by Minako and Ranma crashed into the back of the unsuspecting Clow Card, hurtling it forward onto its face onto the pavement.

"Everyone attack on three!" yelled out Minako as the Clow Card started to show signs of getting up. "One, two, three!"

"Venus Love and Beauty Shock!"

"Möko Takabisha!"

"Mercury Aqua Mirage!"

"Watery!"

"Ice!"

The quintuplet of attacks all struck within moments of each other, exploding into a giant ice ball, since most of the attacks were water based. It took a moment for the frost and ice shards thrown in the air to dissipate, but when the area was finally visible again, the teens found the Clow Card still standing and hardly damaged.

"Magic doesn't seem to be working," said Sakura, pointing out the obvious. "What should we do?"

"I have an idea," said Heero. "But it is a bit risky if it doesn't work." Heero then pulled out the unchanged Weak Card.

"But if it doesn't work, it is dangerous to fight this Clow Card--" Sakura began before being cutoff by Heero's gentle finger being placed over her mouth.

"We have no other choice," said Heero. "Card Created by Clow. Discard Your Old Form and be Reborn, Under the Name Heero; Your New Master." With newly changed Card in hand, Heero set his plan into motion. "Weak!" The Weak Card released from its confines and immediately flew over to the giant figure of a Clow Card, surrounding its entire body in a light green colored energy.

Heero took off full speed toward the hopefully weakened Clow Card, saying inaudibly under his breath, "I hope this works." Heero knew that if the Weak Card did not do what Heero was hoping for, then he would be in real trouble attempting to fight this monstrously powerful Clow Card one on one. Luckily, Heero didn't have to deal with his concern. When Heero ran in and delivered a powerful spin kick to the Clow Card's head, he sent the figure flying through the air, and bouncing along the concrete ground, until it finally came to a stop and remained motionless on the ground. "Now, Sakura!"

"I Sakura, Mistress of the Cards Command You. Return to Your True Form. Clow Card!"

Just like always, the comatose Clow Card instantly changed into a form of energy before flying over toward Heero, and changing into the form of a Clow Card. Sakura immediately ran over to where Heero was standing, extremely relieved that Heero's plan had panned out, and also a little curious of which Clow Card they had just captured. Soon after Sakura arrived at Heero's side, the couple was joined by Ami, Syaoran, Minako, and Ranma. "What Card is it?" Sakura asked.

"Looks like it's called the Battle," answered Heero.

"Made from the Fight and Sword," added Syaoran. "Guess that makes sense."

Heero put his new Clow Card away and checked his watch. "Come on, Sakura. We have to get to Math."

At hearing Heero's statement, Sakura also looked at her watch and saw that they had only a couple minutes before they were late to their next class. The Battle Card had happened to show up in Sakura and Heero's path as they were walking around campus for the hour they had between Computer class and Math class. At the same hour, Ami and Syaoran were also off, as well as Ranma and Minako, who had Math before the break. "I hate Math," wined Sakura. "You all have Biology right now, right?"

"Hai," answered Ami. "And we had better get going too."

"We'll see you guys later!"

Heero and Sakura both took off at a quick pace since their class was quite a distance away from their current location, leaving Ami, Syaoran, Minako, and Ranma to make their way to their own class. "Well, let's get going," said Minako as she, Ranma, and Ami started toward the building.

"You guys go on ahead," said Syaoran as he turned to walk in the opposite direction. "There is something I have to do."

Ami knew Syaoran's choice to skip class must have had something to do with his inability to use his magic. "Go ahead without me," said Ami to Minako and Ranma. "I need to find out what is wrong with Syaoran."

"Ok," said Minako a bit skeptically. "We'll see the two of you later tonight."

Ami nodded to her friend, and then took off at a quick jog to catch up with Syaoran. Actually beginning to get a little annoyed at Syaoran's sudden change of attitude, Ami roughly grabbed him by the arm and turned him around to face her. However, as soon as she was face to face with her boyfriend, Ami suddenly let go of his arm and took a step back, her facial expression changing from an frustrated pout to a look of surprised concern. What Ami was so taken aback by, was Syaoran's eyes. To a casual observer, he looked no different, but to one who knew his caring gaze better than almost anyone, the look of unusual hollowness in Syaoran's stare was unmistakable.

"Syaoran-kun?" Ami asked in a quiet, unsure voice.

"Leave me be," answered Syaoran in a harsh emotionless tone.

"I just want to help," continued Ami, so shocked by Syaoran's change that her voice barely came out of her throat.

"It is not any of your concern," said Syaoran, still in the same emotionless tone of voice. "Now leave me alone, and do not bother me again."

Turning around, Syaoran walked indifferently away from the Sailor Senshi, who found herself so stunned by the whole situation that she couldn't get her mouth to form any words, or get her limbs to get her to follow her boyfriend, who was slowly vanishing into the distance. In the end, Ami just dropped to her knees and cried. She cried until her tears would no longer fall, at which point she slowly got back to her feet and, watery eyed, trudged back to her dorm room, skipping all her remaining classes for the day, and just wanting to wake up from this terrible nightmare.

Author's Notes:

I actually posted a new section in a relatively short amount of time! Though, it is a little short, but that's not the point. Anyway, most of you probably think this latest update will stink, just because it is more depressing than the normal happy type of chapters that make up this fic. But, to make sure nobody is worried, by the time the chapter is done, it will be all happy again. Anyway, I can't promise that any other postings will come as quickly as this one, but I can promise that I will try. So, until my next post, hope everyone is doing well, and as always, please leave a review, because I like knowing if people are reading/enjoying my fic! Bye!


	48. Sakura's Friend's Mental Battle Part II

Tokyo, Japan

Sakura yawned lightly as she walked out of her Psychology classroom, and after spotting Heero waiting outside the door, playfully fell into his arms, pretending to be so exhausted she couldn't stay on her feet.

"Tired?" asked Heero as he gently kissed the top of Sakura's head.

"Only a little," answered Sakura with a smile as she moved to stand on her own power again. "We had a guest speaker today. What he was talking about was pretty interesting, but he was a little long winded, and I was starting to fall asleep a bit."

"I'm sure Ami-san kept you awake," responded Heero. "Where is she anyway?"

"Ami-chan wasn't in class," Sakura said with another quiet yawn.

"Maybe she's with Li," Heero thought aloud. "He wasn't in class either."

"They're probably trying to figure out why Syaoran-kun can't use his magic."

"Probably," agreed Heero. "Shall we go?" Sakura nodded her head, and the couple exited the building to head back to their rooms.

By the time Heero and Sakura had arrived back to their dorms, Sakura was giggling uncontrollably and Heero, who rarely laughed, had a slight smile on his face. The couple went into Sakura's bedroom, where they were going to study for a bit before going out to eat, and dropped their bags. Sakura excused herself to go use the bathroom, so Heero silently took a seat at Sakura's desk and began to unpack his books. It took him a few moments, but in the silence of the room, he finally noticed an odd sniffling sound. Stopping what he was doing to listen more carefully, Heero realized the noise was coming from the other side of the wall shared by Sakura and Ami's rooms. Heero made his way out of Sakura's bedroom, and went to Ami's door, which was shut almost all the way, but not quite. He knocked lightly, and when he got no response, slowly and quietly opened the door a bit farther to take a peek inside.

"Ami-san?" Heero asked as he peered around the dark room. He was a little surprised at how dark the room was, considering it was still light outside, but somehow none of the light seemed to be able to enter through Ami's window. The darkness kept him from being able to make out much of anything except some basic shapes in the room, but he could still hear the muffled sniffling, so he knew someone was in the room. Heero squinted his eyes, and unconsciously used some of his magical energy, to better his eyesight in the darkened room until he finally caught sight of some slight movement on Ami's bed, and managed to make out the outline of the form of Ami Mizuno.

From what Heero could tell, Ami was lying on her stomach on top of her bed, and sounded as though she was crying into her pillow, which she had wrapped halfway around her head, explaining why she hadn't heard him knock or enter. Heero carefully crept over to the side of the bed, and as gently as he could, placed a hand on the crying girl's shoulder.

Extremely startled by the sudden feeling of something on her shoulder, Ami shot up from her lying position, and found herself face to face with Heero. She then gave Heero just as much of a surprise as he had just given her, as she wrapped her arms around his neck and started to cry into his shoulder.

At first, Heero didn't know what to do. With the exception of Sakura, Heero was not used to such close contact with other people, and never in his life had anyone ever used his shoulder to cry on. His first instinct was to find a way to get Ami off of him, but, as had been happening more and more often, Heero ignored his first instinct and tried to decipher what other people would likely do in the situation. Heero figured in this situation most people would usually do one of two things; attempt to cheer up the crying individual, or simply be there and console them. Heero opted for the second option as he caringly wrapped his own arms around Ami's body and gently stroked her soft hair.

After a little while, Ami's tears stopped running, but despite her slightly cleared mind, she felt too comfortable in Heero's embrace to let go. "What happened?" she heard Heero whisper quietly in her ear.

"Syaoran-kun," replied Ami with a sniffle, as tears began to reform in her eyes as her mind unconsciously played back the scene of Syaoran telling her to leave him alone. "He just… he just… he just… he just left!" The last words coming out at almost a scream from a mix of anger and depression.

"Shh," consoled Heero, continuing to softly stroke Ami's hair, while the Sailor Senshi cried. "It'll be alright."

"_Heero-kun?"_ Heero heard through his telepathic link with Sakura.

"_I'm in Ami-san's room,"_ answered Heero. _"She's in pretty bad shape. Maybe you could come in here and help her feel better."_

A moment later, Ami's door opened a fraction and Sakura silently slipped into the room. Sakura actually paused for a split second when she caught sight of Ami crying into Heero's shoulder, and Heero gently stroking her short hair, apparently attempting to calm her down. Quickly getting over her shock, Sakura made her way to Ami's bed, and sat on the opposite side of the girl, and tenderly shifted her from crying on Heero's shoulder, to crying on her own.

When Ami was safely moved to Sakura's embrace, Heero carefully stood up and after giving Sakura a kiss on the top of the head, left the room. Knowing Sakura would take good care of their crying friend, Heero went in search of Syaoran.

Heero finally caught up with Syaoran in the main terminal of Tokyo Station, having tracked him down by concentrating extraordinarily hard and following his magical aura. He was on the floor below him, so Heero called out his name, but got no response. He then called out one more time, louder than before, and noticed many of the people in the area surrounding Syaoran looked around for the source of the yell, but again, Syaoran showed no sign of having heard anything. Heero looked around, trying to determine the best route down to the floor below. He could very easily have simply jumped the rail down to the floor below, however the Station was busy enough that he might accidentally land on a person if he did. It didn't take Heero long to notice a column with a set of flag poles running down its length. Each pole looked quite sturdy, and the column itself was easily within jumping distance from his position.

Heero quickly made his way along the upper level railing until he reached the column he had previously spotted. Without pausing, and purposely ignoring the gasps of surprise from all around him, Heero hopped the railing in one quick motion, and began his fall downward. When he was approximately halfway down to the ground, Heero reached out and grasped a flag pole for a split second, slowing his descent, before grabbing hold of the next pole down and coming to a halt. He stopped in his midair position for a short moment to reestablish Syaoran's position. Easily spotting his cousin from his elevated position, Heero memorized the area and then let go of the flag pole and continued to fall. When he was a few feet from the ground, Heero grasped the last of the flag poles and paused momentarily until there was a free spot for him to land, at which time he dropped to the ground, startling the half dozen people around him, and then took off in Syaoran's direction.

Heero reached Syaoran without any more obstacles, and stepped directly in front of his cousin, causing Syaoran to stop in his tracks. "What are you doing?" Heero demanded to know.

"Leaving," responded Syaoran, his stoic expression unchanged.

"That's all you have to say for yourself?"

Syaoran remained silent and unmoving.

"Fine," responded Heero. Heero balled up a fist and delivered a powerful roundhouse punch straight across Syaoran's jaw. Heero didn't necessarily want to fight or injure Syaoran, but he knew something was wrong with his cousin and decided to follow the way of thinking his fellow Gundam pilot Wu-Fei followed; the best way to understand someone is to fight them.

Syaoran fell to his hands and knees from the blow, but still remained silent. Still from his knees, Syaoran returned the blow, catching Heero off guard, and connected solidly with Heero's upper abdomen, lifting the Gundam pilot clear off his feet and flying into the crowd.

A few people in the crowd of people at the station had noticed Heero's original punch, and had stopped to watch the fight. A few more had stopped to gawk after Syaoran's retaliation. But at Syaoran's next move, everyone panicked and ran away in fear.

With no regard for the hundreds of innocent bystanders, Syaoran used his magic to create a ball of fire, and threw the attack at Heero. All Heero had time to do was release his sword, and use the weapon mixed with some of his own magic, to deflect the blast upwards. The attack exploded loudly on the roof of the station, sending large pieces of debris falling toward the panicked crowd below. The crowd was so scared and disorderly that they didn't even realize when Heero called forth the Wall Card to put up a protective shield to protect the bystanders from being crushed by the falling pieces of glass, steel, and concrete. After the last of the innocents had vacated the area, Heero ordered the Wall to create a dome around Syaoran and himself, to keep any others from interfering.

Throughout the entire scene of panic, Syaoran remained silent and motionless. Even when Heero stood and finally refocused his attention back to his cousin, Syaoran stayed unmoving.

Once all the innocent bystanders were safe, Heero finally stood back up. He felt a very sharp twinge of pain as he straightened up, and knew at least two of his ribs had been fractured when Syaoran had struck him. He ignored the pain and focused his attention on his current opponent. It was painfully obvious to Heero that something was wrong with Syaoran. Even though his physical appearance and his magical energy signature both appeared normal, his mental state was clearly different. Syaoran was always very cautious about injuring innocent bystanders and showing his magical abilities to the general public, but today he had fired a blast that could very easily have killed numerous people, and he did it in plain sight of the public.

While Heero was staring back at Syaoran, trying to decide his next move, he suddenly felt twinges of magical energy. It was only there for a quick second before disappearing, but the feeling was unmistakable; whatever was wrong with Syaoran, had something to do with a Clow Card.

Now Heero knew exactly what he had to do. From his past experiences, Heero knew the way to capture a Clow Card is to defeat it. This Clow Card obviously had something to do with Syaoran, so what Heero was going to do was defeat Syaoran and capture the Clow Card. With no more hesitation, Heero, ignoring the pain from his broken ribs, rushed at his cousin. Heero recalled his sword, since he had no wish to seriously injure Syaoran, and luckily for Heero, Syaoran didn't call forth his own weapon when Heero struck.

Heero's first attack was a swift roundhouse kick at Syaoran's midsection, that the Li Clan leader did an easy back flip to evade. The first miss did not deter Heero, who continued his assault by following up his initial strike with another spin kick with the opposite leg. However, just as before, Syaoran easily ducked out of the way of the attack. After missing for a second time, Heero was expecting some sort of counterattack, but Syaoran made no move to attack. Taking advantage of Syaoran's apparent reluctance to attack, Heero, once again, took the offensive. Heero unleashed a long series of punches and kicks, the first few of which Syaoran, with what appeared to be almost faster than human reactions, expertly evaded. However, at one point during the attack, Syaoran switched from evasion to concise blocks. Again, Syaoran's defensive reactions appeared almost superhuman, his blocks stopping each and every one of Heero's attacks. Over time, Syaoran's blocks began to shift from purely defensive to more and more aggressive, until finally Syaoran blocked Heero's kick so hard that Heero got caught out of position. This time, Syaoran took full advantage of Heero's opening and punched him in the midsection so fast and so hard that Heero didn't even have time to react before he was sent flying across the floor, until he smashed right into his own Wall Card that he had erected earlier. The force from the impact knocked Heero unconscious, resulting in his falling limp to the ground and also the recalling of his Wall Card.

Some unknown amount of time later, Heero awoke with a splitting headache and what felt like a half dozen broken bones. As he painfully managed to sit up, Heero looked around and was somewhat surprised to find that the Station was still empty. Since Syaoran was nowhere in sight, Heero figured he had to have been out for a decent amount of time, which was why he wasn't expecting the Station to be devoid of people. There was still a gigantic hole in the Station ceiling from Syaoran's earlier magical attack, so Heero decided that it would be easier and probably less painful to just call his Wing Card and fly back to his dorm. When Heero was fully airborne and out the top of the building, his own Telepathy Card suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Through a mental connection with the card, Heero realized that the Telepathy Card had released itself while he had been unconscious, and used its abilities to stop time temporarily in the Station, which explained why no civilians had been in the area when Heero had woken up. After silently thanking his card, Heero recalled the Telepathy back to card form and placed it with the others in his pocket.

A while later, Heero landed uncharacteristically clumsily on the balcony of his dorm suite. He had badly misjudged how much energy he had lost in his fight with Syaoran and had discovered flying back from Tokyo Station was much more difficult than he had originally predicted. His ungraceful landing caused quite a bit of noise, which did not go unnoticed by Ami and Sakura, who had moved out to the common room. Sakura had managed to get Ami to stop crying and the two teens had been sitting at their table and eating a snack when the noise caused by Heero's landing shifted their attention. Both girls got up rather quickly, though Sakura just a fraction faster than Ami, when they saw Heero fall to one knee and grab his side on the balcony. Sakura quickly opened the door and she and Ami helped Heero onto the common room couch.

"What happened?" Sakura asked in a both a surprised and concerned tone of voice, while Ami busily checked what injuries Heero had sustained.

"Got in a fight with Li," Heero answered.

"Syaoran-kun did this to you?" said Ami in a bit of shock. She knew Syaoran was acting strangely, but would never have guessed he would have hurt Heero so bad.

"In a way," responded Heero. "It was him, but I think his behavior has something to do with a Clow Card."

"A Clow Card?" repeated Ami. "But he didn't feel like a Clow Card earlier."

"It's very subtle. I only caught a glimpse of it when I was concentrating."

"Any idea what type of card it is?" asked Sakura.

"Nothing definitive," Heero answered. "But it has to be tied in with Li's psyche."

"Where did Syaoran-kun go?"

"Not sure," Heero said with a slight gasp as Ami pressed against his broken ribs. "I got knocked out and when I woke up, he was gone."

"I think you have three broken ribs, a fracture in your left femur, a dislocated left shoulder, and possibly a tear in that left triceps muscle," reported Ami after her inspection of Heero's body. "I'm also guessing you have at least a mild concussion, but I don't think you have any internal bleeding."

"That sounds pretty bad," said Sakura with concern. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I've been in worse shape," answered Heero. "Although I have to admit that I feel a lot worse than these injuries should have me feeling."

"Your magic feels really low," Sakura said. "Eriol-kun and Syaoran-kun said your magic is tied into your quick healing, so that could be why you feel more injured than you are."

"I assumed you had more of a physical fight than a magic one," Ami commented.

"It was," said Heero in a very strained voice after having painfully just popped his shoulder back into place. "It was probably the Wall and Telepathy Cards that used up all my energy."

"I can guess why you were using the Wall, but why were you using the Telepathy?"

"It released while I was unconscious and stopped time for a while to keep the Station empty."

"Station?"

"Tokyo Station. That's where I caught up with Li."

"Tokyo Station is always packed," said Ami. "How did you manage to empty it?"

"Li used a fire attack on me. All I could do was deflect it upwards. Ended up taking out the Tokyo Station's roof. Place evacuated after that."

"You blew out the roof of Tokyo Station?" interrupted Minako as she walked into the suite right in the middle of Heero explanation of what had happened.

Heero simply shrugged at Minako's comment, immediately grabbing his shoulder in pain, his body obviously not liking the movement of his recently dislocated joint.

When Sakura saw Heero's pain, she immediately wanted to hold him close, just as he always did to her to calm her down, but was hesitant out of fear of not knowing where she could grasp him without aggravating any of his numerous injuries. "Maybe we should take you to the hospital."

"Sakura's right," agreed Ami. "There is still the possibility that you are more injured than my diagnosis. And even if you're not, if you don't heal at your normal fast pace, because of your low magic, then you may need some traditional medical help."

"I trust your diagnostic skills," Heero answered. "And I appreciate your concern, but I'm not going to a hospital just yet."

"But…" began Sakura before getting cut off but Heero gently placing a finger on her delicate lips.

"If in a few days I am still not healing correctly, I'll go see a doctor."

Meanwhile, Minako had been standing by, very confused. "What exactly happened here? And how did you manage to destroy a place as big and public as Tokyo Station?"

"It's a long story, Mina-san," answered Sakura for Heero. "And we haven't figured it all out quite yet. But in terms of the Station, basically, Heero and Syaoran got in a fight in Tokyo Station, and it went a little far."

"Looks like Li-kun won," noted Minako, who received a glare from Heero for the unappreciated remark. "Sorry. What were you two fighting about that escalated to something so serious?"

"He was acting irregularly," answered Heero when he saw Ami's eyes shift downward and begin to water. Heero figured she wasn't ready to tell everyone about what had happened between Syaoran and herself. "I think it has something to do with a Clow Card."

"A Clow Card? Like a mind control card or something?"

"We don't know," Sakura answered. "He sort of disappeared."

"Heero-kun," said Ami quietly, as she was still looking down at the floor. "I know you are hurt and should be resting, but is there a chance that we can use your Gundam to try to find Syaoran-kun?"

Heero looked curiously at Ami for a moment, finding himself feeling strangely empathetic for the his cousin's girlfriend. Less than a year ago, before he had met Sakura, Heero would have looked at Ami's sorrow and felt nothing. He had always lived by his motto of 'The only way to live a good life is to act on your emotions,' but before he met Sakura, he rarely felt the emotion of empathy. But Sakura's sweet and innocent nature had rubbed off on him more than even he had noticed, and Heero found himself feeling sincerely concerned about his new friend's feelings. "Sure," Heero answered in an uncharacteristically soft voice.

Ami looked up and stared surprised at Heero. It was much more his compassionate tone of voice than his agreement to her request, that surprised Ami so much. Even though Ami had seen first hand how much Heero had changed over the course of the school year, such an act of pure sincerity was still quite unexpected. "Thank you, Heero-kun," replied Ami quietly, as she found herself unconsciously blushing from Heero's kind voice.

"The only problem is how to get there," said Heero, reverting back to his normal tone of voice. "My car is still at Tokyo Station."

"You could probably borrow Duo's car," suggested Minako. "We were about to go out, but we'll just take my car."

"I'll go ask him," volunteered Sakura as she jumped up and went to the door.

After Sakura had left, Minako walked over to Ami, and gently placed a friendly hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Ami-chan. Things will work out in the end."

"Thanks, Mina-chan," said Ami with a weak smile.

Minako returned Ami's smile with a much more full smile of her own, and gave her fellow Senshi a kiss on the cheek before heading into her own room to change.

Heero, who had been sitting next to Ami on the couch, had given Minako a nod as she walked out of the room, but once Minako was out of sight, he felt an unexpected wetness on his arm. Looking down to see what had fallen on his arm, Heero caught sight of Ami's downcast head, and saw another droplet of water fall from underneath her blue colored bangs and land on top of the first on his forearm.

"What's wrong?" Heero asked softly as he wrapped an arm around Ami's body. Heero had to force himself not to grimace in pain as Ami was sitting on his dislocated shoulder side, forcing him to move the injured arm to try to comfort her.

"I don't know," Ami responded between sniffles. "I'm glad I know that Syaoran-kun's behavior is not only him, and I appreciate everybody helping make me feel better…" Ami's voice trailed off as she felt Heero place his other hand on her chin and tilt her head upwards until she was looking into his eyes. For just a moment, Ami forgot all about her situation with Syaoran, and found herself lost in Heero's stare.

Although Ami had gotten pretty close to Heero over the course of the school year, his stare had still always appeared cold and a bit frightening. Despite how often during the girls' gossip time Sakura claimed Heero's stare wasn't scary, but instead was full of compassion, Ami and the other girls had never been able to see it. However, as Ami stared into Heero's cobalt blue eyes, she finally understood what Sakura had been trying to convince everyone of. Deep in Heero's eyes, beneath his cold, hard, exterior stare, Ami finally saw his inner softness.

Her eyes unconsciously closed when she felt Heero gently wipe her tears away with his hand, and she felt herself moving just the slightest bit closer to him. Ami didn't know what she was doing. Her body was reacting to Heero's kindness, and despite what her brain was saying, Ami couldn't keep from allowing her face to draw closer and closer to Heero's.

However, luckily for Ami, Heero was not so lost, and brought her back to reality with a gentle finger on her quivering lips. "Believe me," Heero said softly, causing Ami's eyes to shoot open to stare back into Heero's gaze. "You don't really want to do this."

Ami stared in slight shock at Heero before her brain finally managed to comprehend just what she had been about to do. And then, all Ami could to was cry. Her eyes flooded with a continued steam of tears, and Ami could only bury her head in Heero's chest and let the tears fall. "I'm so sorry Heero-kun," said Ami between sobs. "I… I don't know… I… I'm so sorry."

"Shh," consoled Heero as he wrapped his arms around Ami. "Don't worry. Don't worry."

"I don't even know what I'm doing anymore," cried Ami. "I just feel lost."

"You feel as though you were betrayed by someone you trust," analyzed Heero. "It clouds the mind of the best of us."

"Are you going to tell Sakura?" Ami asked quietly, feeling as though she had betrayed her new friend, who was already as close to her as anyone.

"There's nothing to tell," Heero answered. "But even if there was, I can guarantee you she would completely understand."

"Thank you, Heero-kun," said Ami with a smile as she wiped the last of her tears from her eyes. "I'm really glad you're here."

Heero responded to Ami's kind words with a smile. And not his usual half grin smile, but the full caring smile he usually only showed to Sakura. In response, Ami couldn't help but smile a bit brighter, and by the time Sakura came back into the room with Duo's keys, Ami's smile was as wide as could be.

"What happened here?" asked Sakura, finding it a bit surprising that Ami was so happy all of a sudden.

"Nothing," responded Ami. "I guess I just realized how sweet your boyfriend really is."

"He is sweet, isn't he?" said Sakura rhetorically as she sat on Heero's other side and rested her head on his shoulder. "But don't forget, he's all mine."

Ami smiled at Sakura, knowing her statement was just a joke. "We'll just have to see."

Both Ami and Sakura started giggling together, while Heero stood up from the couch. "You girls ready to go?"

"He's sweet," said Sakura between giggles. "But his sense of humor still needs a little work." Sakura stood up and gave Heero a kiss to make certain he knew she was just playing around.

"Okay, Heero-kun," said Ami as she continued to giggle. "We're ready. And thanks again… for everything."

Reverting back to his normal demeanor, Heero only nodded in response to Ami's gratitude. After handing Heero Duo's keys, Sakura and Ami followed Heero out the door and to the parking lot. When they arrived at Duo's spotless metallic black BMW 760Li sedan, Heero got into the driver's seat and was joined in the front by Sakura, while Ami sat in back.

Duo had purchased the brand new top of the line luxury sedan shortly after the battle with Charon when the demon had destroyed both Tomoyo and Syaoran's sports cars. Since that time, Syaoran and Tomoyo had each replaced their destroyed automobiles with new ones. Tomoyo's mother had bought her a new black Mercedes Benz S65 AMG sedan, while Syaoran had test driven a dozen different models before finally deciding upon a silver Mercedes Benz SL65 AMG, the sports car sister to Tomoyo's new S65 sedan. Syaoran had been considering buying either the Aston Martin Vanquish or perhaps a new Porsche 911 GT2, but decided the 604 horse-power, twin-turbocharged V12 convertible, was more fitting.

"You still keeping your Gundam in the same forest?" asked Ami from the back seat once they were under way.

Heero nodded an affirmation.

"That way Wing ZERO is always right where the Heal Card is residing," corroborated Sakura. She then paused, thinking for a moment. "Maybe we can ask the Heal Card to fix all your injuries."

"Won't that be dangerous since Heero-kun's magic is so low and the Clow Cards feed off their master's energy?" questioned Ami.

"I wish Either Eriol-kun or Kero-chan were here," responded Sakura. She also wished Syaoran was there, since he would likely know as well, but Sakura thought it would be best not to unnecessarily mention him. "They would know for sure, but I think that since we never technically captured the Heal, I don't believe it has a contract with Heero's magic yet."

"Do the Clow Cards have enough energy for us to keep borrowing their powers without them being linked to a master?"

"I'm not sure," admitted Sakura. "Kero-chan and Eriol-kun had me change all the original Clow Cards into Sakura Cards because without a master to feed power from, they would have disappeared."

"So there is a chance that if we keep asking the Heal Card to help us whenever someone gets hurt, it may use all its power and disappear?"

"We can call Eriol-kun and find out," said Sakura as she reached for her cell phone.

"That won't be necessary," stated Heero. "I can live with my injuries. We can ask Hiiragizawa about the cards after we get back."

"Are you sure?"

"I can live with a little pain."

"But…"

"It's not worth the risk," responded Heero. "Having a Clow Card with the Heal's powers is too important to risk it disappearing. So despite what Hiiragizawa might say, either way I have no intention of risking that power since it's not necessary."

"Heero's right," agreed Ami. "While he is pretty badly hurt, the injuries aren't anything that can't be healed by modern medicine and a little time. But the Heal Card might have the power to cure some of the world's incurable ailments. It could make way for a whole new field of combination of magic and medicine."

"I guess with your magical energy and your love of medicine, you'd be a perfect front runner in that field," said Sakura as she turned around to smile at Ami in the back seat.

Ami started to blush slightly at Sakura's comments. "I have thought about it a little," admitted Ami. "I just think that with all the extra abilities magic grants people like us, there has to be a way to use our energy in a way that benefits others."

Sakura couldn't help but smile and laugh at Ami's sweetness. "I can't wait for your Nobel Prize acceptance speech."

Ami started laughing along with Sakura, their conversation continually moving toward a more and more lighthearted nature, as Sakura purposely kept Ami's mind off of Syaoran. Before Ami's mind had even had a chance to think about Syaoran, the three magicians arrived at the forest where Heero kept his Gundam.

"So how is this going to work?" asked Sakura. "Only two can fit in Wing ZERO."

"Could we borrow Duo-kun's Gundam so all three of us can go up?" asked Ami.

"Even if Duo doesn't mind us using his Gundam, Deathscythe doesn't have nearly the tracking abilities of ZERO, and we haven't gotten to the use of the tracking systems in Sakura's lessons yet," explained Heero.

"You go with Heero-kun," said Sakura. "I'll wait down here."

"Are you sure, Sakura-chan?"

"Syaoran-kun is one of the most important people in my life and I want to be out there looking for him," said Sakura. "But you need to be up there. I know this is something that you have to do, and if the situation were reversed, you would do the same thing for me."

"Thank you," replied Ami sincerely. "Without both of you, I don't know what I would do."

"We love you, Ami-chan," explained Sakura as she gave her friend a hug. "We would do anything for you."

"You ready to go?" asked Heero after waiting a few moments for the girls' moment to end.

"Yeah," answered Ami with a sigh. The sigh was from anxiety from a mix of her first ride in Wing ZERO and also her fear of what might happen if and when they found Syaoran.

Heero turned away from the girls and faced his Gundam. The last time Heero had used Wing ZERO he had been doing some maintenance, and had left the giant machine in a standing position. Heero knew it was unlikely Ami would be able to jump up to the cockpit with ZERO in a standing position, at least without first transforming into her Sailor Mercury form, so he jumped up the machine without waiting for Ami to follow. Due do his injuries, it took Heero a fraction longer than usual to make it up to Wing ZERO's cockpit, but when he did reach his destination, he released a line for Ami to grasp and allowed the winch to mechanically pull Ami up to the elevated position.

While Ami was being winched up, Heero stepped into the cockpit and pulled out a radio. "Take this," called out Heero to Sakura as he tossed the radio over the edge and down to the Card Mistress. Sakura bobbled the radio a few times, almost dropping it, before finally getting a firm grasp and smiling sheepishly up at Heero because of her clumsiness. "We'll keep you updated on our progress and position."

"Okay," called back Sakura. "Good luck, Heero-kun."

By the time Heero stepped back into the cockpit, Ami had herself securely fastened in the auxiliary chair. Heero was about to seat himself in his own seat, when out of the corner of his eye he noticed Ami holding her hands tightly together, trying to keep them from shaking. "Are you alright?" Heero asked.

Ami looked up and saw Heero looking at her quivering hands. "I'm actually a little nervous," Ami admitted.

"I'm sure we'll be able to get Li back to normal."

"Actually, it's not about Syaoran-kun," said Ami. "I'm just a little scared of your Gundam."

Heero paused. Until now, he hadn't even realized that aside from Duo and himself, the only others to ever go up in a Gundam were Sakura and Minako. "I almost forgot this will be your first trip."

"It's not the flying, and definitely not a lack of faith in your piloting skills," explained Ami. "I just remember what you were telling Sakura about the ZERO system, and it is a bit frightening."

"It is a dangerous system," agreed Heero. "And it takes a strong mind to master it."

"Which is why I'm scared to face it," said Ami quietly, staring at the floor to escape Heero's eyes.

Ami looked back up when she felt Heero place a hand on her chin, and found her face mere centimeters from Heero's. "You have one of the strongest minds of anyone I know."

Again, Ami looked downwards to avoid Heero's intense gaze. "Not today, I don't," she said quietly. "Today I can hardly control my mind, much less create any mental strength."

"Mental strength comes from within," said Heero. "It is independent of current thoughts and feelings. You may feel as though you do not have the strength, but your true mind, and your will, are always yours."

"Thank you, Heero-kun," said Ami, looking up as she finally felt she had the strength to look Heero in the eye. "I hope you are right."

"Trust me," answered Heero as he gave Ami a wink, which Ami thought seemed very un-Heero like, and much more like something his Gundam comrade, Duo, would do. "Ready to go now?"

Ami nodded her head. "I think I am now."

"Good," Heero said as he nodded, before finally sitting in his own cockpit seat. Heero's hands flew across the controls as the cockpit door closed and the systems of Wing ZERO began to start up.

From outside, Sakura smiled as she saw the engines warm up, a small puff of exhaust shooting out from the giant machine. Sakura loved piloting Wing ZERO, and also loved watching the ultimate Gundam in action. She watched as the glimmering white wings outstretched to both sides, just as the head of the robot raised to face forward. She knew from spending a large amount of time learning everything she could about Wing ZERO that the next step in the startup procedure was going to be the activation of the ZERO system. "Take care of her, Heero-kun," said Sakura quietly to herself, knowing her thoughts would echo subtly in Heero's mind.

As Sakura saw the eyes of Wing ZERO begin to glow a bright green, the yellow lights indicating the activation of the ZERO system flooded the cockpit. "Hang on," said Heero to warn Ami that they were about to take off.

Even though Heero wasn't looking at her, Ami nodded her head and grasped the armrests of her chair. In an instant, Ami felt her stomach shoot up to her throat as Wing ZERO shot up through the air. She was frightened at the sudden movements, but soon found herself with a rush the likes of which she had never felt before. The adrenaline was pumping through her veins so uncontrollably, she didn't even realize when she shocked Heero a little by screaming out loud in excitement. Grinning unnoticeably, Heero took Wing ZERO into a series of gravity defying flips, spins, and corkscrews, enticing more screams out of the now widely smiling Ami in the back seat.

"Are you enjoying yourself up there, Ami-chan?" came Sakura's voice through the comm systems as soon as Heero had finished the acrobatic maneuvers and leveled Wing ZERO out. Sakura had been smiling the entire time, while watching through a pair of binoculars, knowing Heero would only have executed the flying exhibition if Ami had been enjoying the flight.

"This is so much fun!" exclaimed Ami, who was unable to control her racing heart or the ear to ear grin on her face. "Before, I always thought you spent so much time learning about and playing with Wing ZERO as an excuse to spend more time alone with Heero-kun. But I never knew just how much fun this is!"

"You should see what its like when you take Wing ZERO up into space," said Sakura, instantly remembering the first time she left the Earth's gravitational pull. It had been when they faced the Night Card, and an everlasting memory of floating in space, staring down at a beautiful Earth, with Heero's arms around her. "It's incredible."

"Maybe I'll have to ask Heero to take me up sometime," said Ami, both to Heero and Sakura.

"Anytime," answered Heero. "But in the meantime, I think I've found Li."

Author's Notes:

Sorry it took so long for another update. Hopefully it was worth the wait. Truthfully, I planned to finish the chapter before updating again, but its been a while and I also wanted to put up an update before my girl Helen left to go kick some butt in her TKD competition. Everyone wish her luck P. Anyway, hopefully it won't take me too long to finish the chapter, but in the meantime, enjoy this section and please review.


	49. Sakura's Friend's Mental Battle Part III

Tokyo, Japan

"You found him already?" asked Ami in surprise. "I didn't even realize you had started looking."

"I've been attempting to track him since we took off."

"Even with all the fancy flying moves?"

"I've had to learn to fly while using Wing ZERO's other features to battle effectively," explained Heero. "So doing a wide area scan while entertaining you is no problem."

"So how exactly did you go about searching for Syaoran-kun?"

"I actually got a little lucky," replied Heero. "I checked Tokyo Station and couldn't find Li's car. Figuring he drove it, it was easy to find using ZERO's systems in conjunction with all the traffic and security cameras in the Tokyo area."

"So where is he?"

"Looks like he's already left the city limits, headed toward Mt. Fuji."

"Mt. Fuji?" asked Ami rhetorically. "I wonder why he's heading there."

"Syaoran-kun once told me that Mt. Fuji is one of the centers in the flow of Chi through Japan," said Sakura through the radio, having heard the entire conversation through the open link with the Gundam's cockpit. "Maybe he's heading there to use the Chi flow to help cleanse himself of the Clow Card that is messing with his head."

"Or the Clow Card is taking him there for its own purposes," commented Heero. "But either way, we'll intercept him way before he gets there."

"How long?" asked Ami from the back seat, where she was staring at a display that had an image of Syaoran sitting in the driver's seat of his Mercedes sports car.

"About twelve minutes, assuming Li holds the same speed and heading," answered Heero. "Sakura, follow the map I sent to the navigation system in Duo's car and meet us at Li's position."

"On my way," responded Sakura as she jumped into the driver's seat of Duo's BMW, started the engine, and brought up the map on Duo's navigation screen. Following the course Heero had sent her, Sakura shifted the car in gear and made her way toward the highway.

Meanwhile, in the cockpit of Wing ZERO, Ami's mind was racing. She had been confused about the whole situation with Syaoran from the beginning, but had never before had any specific thing to be confused about. However, at the moment, Ami was having a difficult time deciphering what she would do when she saw Syaoran. She knew Heero's plan was to fight against Syaoran to defeat the Clow Card controlling him, but she just didn't think she could bring herself to fight against him. Obviously she didn't want Syaoran to stay the way he was, but the thought of fighting against him was just a little overwhelming to the girl.

Ami didn't even realize how much time had gone by until Heero jolted her back to reality. "There he is."

When Heero spoke, Ami looked up at one of the numerous camera displays to stare right into a close up view of Syaoran's deep amber eyes. "Syaoran-kun," whispered Ami to herself as she felt herself get lost in the image of Syaoran's visage.

"Hang on," warned Heero, more to wake up Ami than because he was planning on doing anything drastic. He gave Ami a second to come back to reality before taking Wing ZERO into a steep dive and leveling out parallel to the road Syaoran was following. Heero flew mere meters above the ground, his unmatched Gundam speed easily gaining on Syaoran's car. Heero knew Sakura wouldn't catch up to them for quite a while, but they couldn't wait.

In no time, Wing ZERO caught up to Syaoran's Mercedes sports car. Heero flew ahead of the speeding automobile, before landing in the center of the road, blocking it, and forcing Syaoran to hit the brakes and come to a stop.

Heero's original plan was to use his Gundam only to stop Syaoran's vehicle, and was about to open the cockpit hatch to see Syaoran face to face, when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. "Hold on, Ami-san," said Heero as he quickly took off and did a series of spins and evasive maneuvers.

"What's going on?" asked Ami in surprise and confusion.

"Something's attacking us," answered Heero as he executed another series of evasive maneuvers.

"Where is it?" asked Ami as she scanned every video feed in Wing ZERO's cockpit. "I don't see anything."

"Upper right monitor," said Heero. "Watch it closely."

Ami stared hard at the display, and right when Heero ignited the engines on the left side of the Gundam to send it moving laterally right, Ami saw a flash shoot right past them. "What was that?"

"Don't know," answered Heero. "But based on the speed and magical intensity of whatever it is, I'm not sure ZERO's armor can repel a direct hit."

"So what's the plan?" asked Ami right before tightly gripping the armrests as Heero took Wing ZERO into another series of twists and turns.

"We can't keep dodging forever," replied Heero. "So we'll have to attack somehow."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Keep watch on the external displays and warn me if you see a second attack," answered Heero. "Other than that, just hang on tight."

Ami didn't respond to Heero. Instead she pulled out her transformation wand. "Mercury Crystal Power, Make-Up!"

"Why did you transform?" asked Heero curiously after Ami had changed and reappeared as Sailor Mercury.

"As Mizuno Ami, I can't help much," explained Ami. "But as Sailor Mercury I can use my visor to help you detect the magical energy and spot any secondary attacks."

"Good thinking," praised Heero. "Utilizing your Senshi skills didn't even occur to me."

Ami smiled in response to Heero's kind words before activating her visor. She adjusted the settings to view outside the Gundam cockpit and scanned the area for signs of the attacker. "Coming in at nine o'clock, sixty degrees above."

"I see it," Heero responded as he moved Wing ZERO to dodge the attack much more smoothly because of the advance warning. "Can you tell what it is? All I can see are the flashes."

Ami zoomed in on the magical force as it passed them by, attempting to learn anything she could about its qualities. "Whatever it is, it's surrounded by a magical energy, which is why it flashes every time it passes us."

"Any strength reading?"

"I can't get a clear power reading," Ami responded. "But I can say with complete certainty that it is a Clow Card."

"I was fairly sure about that as well," agreed Heero. "But what I really need to know is a way to attack."

Giving Heero as much advance warning as she could to dodge and evade the attacks, Ami also was studying all the data she had bee able to capture on the Clow Card. "You may have been able to tell from the displays, but I couldn't see, but it looks as though the Clow Card looks small from straight ahead, but in actuality it is almost forty meters in length and very thin, kind of like a rope."

"Dexterity?"

"Looks like the entire length is completely flexible," answered Ami. "It can seemingly take any shape and move in any direction."

"I wonder why it always attacks straight ahead and at a single point. Why not use its length and agility to its advantage?"

"I don't know. It's almost like it is toying with us. Just keeping us busy."

Ami's comment got Heero thinking a bit. Punching a couple buttons on a console in the cockpit, Heero brought up a view of where he had originally caught up with Syaoran's car. "Thought so," said Heero as he stared at the empty area of road.

"What?" questioned Ami.

"He's gone," Heero continued.

"Huh?" Ami responded with confusion in her voice.

"Li," said Heero. "I think he's controlling the Clow Card. He used it to distract us so he could get away."

"Can you track him?"

"This road is pretty secluded," said Heero. "His car isn't designed for off-road driving, so there isn't anywhere he could really go except along the road."

"Can Wing ZERO's cockpit be opened mid-flight?"

"Sure," replied Heero. "Why?"

"If possible," continued Ami. "I was hoping you could do a fly-by of Syaoran's position so I can jump out and stop him."

"It is possible," Heero said while doing yet another set of evasive maneuvers. "But it's going to be very dangerous, since to avoid getting hit by the Clow Card I can't stop, so you are going to have to exit while still moving at a decently fast speed. And I know you have increased strength and agility as Sailor Mercury, but a move like this is still very risky."

"I know," responded Ami. "And I know something like this will put you and Wing ZERO at increased risk as well, but I need to do this."

"Alright," conceded Heero after thinking it over for a few seconds. "Be ready though, because the timing has to be pretty close to perfect."

"Just give me the word."

Heero nodded and turned Wing ZERO sharply to follow along the road. He kept a close eye on both the Clow Card attacking them and the road ahead, looking for Syaoran. After a few minutes, having dodged strikes by the Clow Card a half dozen more times, Heero finally caught up with Syaoran again. Heero slowed down until he was moving just slightly faster than Syaoran's car, with the Clow Card rapidly approaching from behind. "Get ready," said Heero to Ami. "We're a go in ten seconds."

Right as the Clow Card was upon them, Heero twisted Wing ZERO along its vertical axis, pulling it into a fast, tight corkscrew. Under normal circumstances, Heero wouldn't dare do such a reckless maneuver, where the probability of getting hit was very high, and the proximity to the ground was so close that there was a good chance of impact with one of the wings. Luckily, however, the gamble paid off, as the Clow Card shot right through ZERO's spinning mass without impact, and Heero was able to right Wing ZERO's attitude. In a flash, Heero opened the cockpit door, allowing a huge gust of wind to swirl around Ami and himself. "Now."

Ami wasted no time, jumping out of the open door and doing a flip in the air before landing in a crouch in the middle of the road a few hundred feet in front of Syaoran's car. "Bubble Spray Freezing!" From the magical powers of Sailor Mercury, a snowy frozen substance appeared around Syaoran's car, stopping it dead in its tracks just a few meters in front of the Senshi.

Very casually, Syaoran opened his car door and stepped out. "I thought I told you to leave me be," Syaoran stated as he faced directly at Ami.

"But you are not my Syaoran-kun," replied Ami. "You are just a Clow Card using his body." Ami got into a fighting stance facing straight at Syaoran. "And I am going to defeat you and turn Syaoran back to normal."

Syaoran grinned an unnaturally wicked smirk as he got into a fighting stance of his own. "Let's see you try."

Although most of the training Ami had done with Syaoran, Sakura, and Heero had been of a more magical nature, she had still gotten a decent number of lessons in traditional martial arts. However, she was still nowhere near the skill level of someone like Syaoran, especially if he currently had heightened enough strength and agility to so badly defeat Heero. Therefore, Ami knew her only slim chance would be to go on the offensive and try to keep Syaoran from being able to attack.

Ami began her attack by rushing at her opponent, covering the short distance between Syaoran and herself in a flash because of her enhanced Senshi powers. She started off with a head height spinning crescent kick that Syaoran easily leaned back to evade, and followed the attack by using her momentum to whip around her other leg for a reverse roundhouse. Unfortunately, that too went for not, as Syaoran again leaned back and watched Ami's leg fly past. Not long ago, after a move that was that complex, Ami would have landed way out of position, but after her training with Syaoran and Heero over the last few months, Ami was able to land back in a perfect fighting stance. This enabled the Mercury Princess to follow up with another series of attacks. Ami began much the same as before with a spinning head high crescent kick, which again Syaoran evaded, but this time executed a reverse sweep at Syaoran's legs. The sweep was evaded by a flip backward by Syaoran, in response to which, Ami did a jumping sidekick. This time Syaoran evaded by sidestepping the attack, so Ami continued the assault with a backhand punch. Apparently bored of evasion, Syaoran blocked the bunch sharply with his forearm. This move gave Ami just the slightest bit of surprise as she was expecting him to simply dodge the attack like before. She recovered quickly and continued her assault with another series of punches, all of which were sharply blocked by Syaoran.

Ami attacked relentlessly, but even her Mercury enhanced power and skills were not enough to defeat Syaoran's expert martial arts training, as his blocks became more and more forceful, making it harder for Ami to return to a proper martial arts stance after each strike. The same trend continued until finally Syaoran blocked an attack so forcefully that Ami had to stumble backward a step. As she was recovering, out of the corner of her eye she noticed Syaoran taking the offensive, and as the powerful punch came toward her face, all Ami could do was raise her arms in front of her face and wait for the impact. However, much to Ami's surprise, the strike never came. Slowly and cautiously, Ami moved her arms out of the way to find out what had happened. What she saw surprised her even further. Syaoran's left fist was mere centimeters from her face and his right hand was gripped tightly around his own wrist. His muscles were tensed, and his arms were quivering just the slightest bit, showing he was struggling against himself, and his face was contorted in an expression that showed his internal anguish.

"Stay back, Ami-chan," said Syaoran in his normal caring, but extraordinarily strained voice. "I don't know how much longer I can control it."

"I'm not going anywhere," stated Ami forcefully. "I'm going to get you through this no matter what it takes." And with that statement, Ami leaned in past Syaoran's arm and planted a kiss directly on Syaoran's lips. The move clearly caught Syaoran and the Clow Card controlling him off guard, as both his punching arm and his self-controlled hand went limp and fell to his sides.

After a few seconds, Ami pulled back from Syaoran's lips and took a step back to observe what his reaction would be. She didn't know what she was expecting to happen, but she found herself stunned at Syaoran's initial reaction.

The future Li Clan leader grasped his head in both hands and yelled out in agony as he fell to his knees on the ground. Ami started to run over and try to help, but found herself repelled by an invisible force shield, forcing her to only stand and helplessly watch Syaoran's pain. Ami quickly began to panic and was going to try to reach Syaoran by using her magic to break through the shield, when suddenly Syaoran stopped screaming, passed out on the ground, and two black clouds rose out of his body. One of the black clouds floated into the air and transformed into a puppet master holding at set of strings, while the other changed into the shape of a small voodoo doll.

Ami completely disregarded the two Clow Cards and ran to Syaoran's comatose side. She ignored the Clow Cards even as they finished taking form and started toward her. Luckily for her, however, before the two cards could do any mischief, the hulking form of Wing ZERO landed loudly on the ground and in a flash, Heero jumped out of the cockpit and before even reaching the ground, executed a split kick, catching the forms of both Clow Cards, knocking them both to the ground.

"I Heero, Master of the Cards Command You. Return to Your True Form. Clow Card!"

At Heero's command, the two unconscious Clow Cards returned to card form and floated over to Heero's hand. Without looking at them, Heero placed the two cards with the third he had captured right before getting back to where Ami and Syaoran were, in his pocket, and made his way over to Ami. "How's he doing?"

"I think he'll be fine," answered Ami. "He has a steady pulse and breathing, and nothing appears damaged." Having been totally engrossed in checking to make certain Syaoran was alright, Ami hadn't even really noticed that Heero had landed in Wing ZERO and defeated the two Clow Cards that had been expelled from Syaoran's body. "Did you defeat that Clow Card?"

"Yeah," Heero replied. "It suddenly began acting erratically just a few moments ago, and was easy to defeat using Wing ZERO's beam saber. After capturing it, I flew here and captured the other two."

"What cards were they?" Heero took all three Clow Cards out of his pocket and handed them to Ami. "The Control, the Doubt, and the String." Ami then handed the cards back to Heero and reverted back to her regular form. "I think I better take Syaoran-kun back to the dorms to rest."

"Good idea," said Heero as he picked up Syaoran off the ground. He started toward Syaoran's car, but stopped when he saw the block of ice and snow it was encased in. "Is that your handiwork?"

Ami looked over at Syaoran's car and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I had to stop him somehow."

Heero placed Syaoran back on the ground and called his Clow Sword back. "Key that Hides the Power of Space. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Heero Command You Under Contract. Release!" With sword in hand, Heero pulled out his Magma Card. "Melt the ice. Magma!" Once released, the Magma Card surrounded the ice around the car and in no time at all, melted the vehicle free. Once the Magma Card was finished, Heero recalled both it and his Clow Sword and picked Syaoran up again, walking him over his Mercedes and placing him in the passenger seat. "I'll let Sakura know that everything here is taken care of, so just take Li back and we'll meet you there later."

"Okay," said Ami as she sat in the driver's seat of the sports car. "Thank you for everything, Heero-kun. I know you've been injured during this entire thing, and I hope you didn't overexert yourself."

"I'm fine, Ami-san," replied Heero. "Just take care of Li. I'll be fine."

"Okay. I'll see you soon."

Heero just nodded in response as Ami closed the door, started the car, turned around, and drove down the road back toward Tokyo. Once the car was out of sight, Heero fell to one knee, grasping his shoulder with his other arm. He didn't say anything to Ami, but Heero knew he had messed himself up substantially more by doing all the flying, fighting, and magic using. His shoulder was excruciatingly painful, he could barely stand, and he was actually having trouble focusing his eyes.

Using what was left of his strength, Heero managed to crawl over to the base of Wing ZERO and sit himself on the ground, using the mighty Gundam's leg as a support. Heero tried a few times to stand before his energy finally gave out, and he passed out unconscious at the base of his Gundam.

A few hours later, Sakura arrived at the secluded stretch of road that was the final destination on the map she had been following. She stopped in the middle of the road and looked around a bit, easily spotting the hulking form of Wing ZERO. The majority of its size was hidden behind some trees on the side of the road, but the sheer height of the Gundam made it easy to spot above the top of the small forest. Getting out of the car, Sakura made her way through the trees toward ZERO's position. Sakura was a little lost at what the situation was, for she had been out of contact with Ami for quite some time, and couldn't even reach Heero via their telepathic link. She also found it a little strange that even with Wing ZERO so close by, she couldn't sense Heero's magical signature anywhere.

When Sakura finally came to the clearing, she immediately began to sprint because the first thing she noticed when Wing ZERO came into full view, was the form of her boyfriend lying unconscious against one of its feet. "Heero-kun! Heero-kun!" repeated Sakura as she tried to wake Heero from his slumber. Unfortunately, her attempts to rouse Heero went unrealized, as she was unable to get Heero to awaken from his unconscious state. At first Sakura started to panic, but quickly got a hold of herself and began to think rationally. She checked Heero's pulse and breathing, and sighed a huge sigh of relief when she found that both of those were steady and, though a bit slow, mostly normal. Sakura really wanted to find out what had happened, and so pulled out her cell phone to try to call Ami one more time. After a second, Sakura heard a beeping from nearby and followed the sound to find Ami's cell phone on the ground, not far from where Heero lay unconscious. She picked up the phone and placed it in her pocket, and as about to call Minako to see if she had heard from Ami, when another thought occurred to her. Instead, Sakura dialed Syaoran's number. After a few rings, Sakura heard a girl's voice on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Ami-chan?"

"Sakura-chan?"

"Yeah," answered Sakura. "I've been trying to reach you, but you must have dropped your phone, because I just found it near where Heero-kun is."

"Where Heero is?" repeated Ami. "Didn't he call you and go back to the dorms yet?"

"No," Sakura said. "He's unconscious next to Wing ZERO on the side of the road. I tried to wake him, but couldn't. I think he drained himself of his energy, because I can't feel his magical aura either."

On the other side of the line, Sakura heard a groan. "He lied to me," stated Ami. "He said he was perfectly fine, and that the fighting didn't aggravate his injuries. I knew I should have checked him more closely, but I got so distracted by Syaoran-kun."

"Well, I think Heero-kun will be alright in a little while," said Sakura. "He's breathing normally and his heart rate is good. He probably just exhausted himself."

"I'm still sorry, Sakura-chan," apologized Ami. "I should have paid more attention."

"Heero-kun can take care of himself," said Sakura. "There is nothing for you to be sorry about. But what about Syaoran-kun? Is he alright?"

"He had a pair of Clow Cards controlling him," answered Ami. "But he managed to break free of their control. Unfortunately, he passed out afterwards, so I am driving him back to the dorm. I should be there within an hour."

"I'm glad he's alright. I am going to get Heero-kun into Wing ZERO and fly him back."

"What are you going to do with Duo's car?"

Sakura paused for a moment, having briefly forgot about the automobile sitting on the road. "I guess I'll have to carry it with Wing ZERO. I just hope I don't accidentally crush it."

"Should I call anyone else and have them meet you somewhere?"

Sakura thought momentarily. "No," she finally answered. "I don't think there is anything anyone would be able to really do right now. I'll just take ZERO back to the forest and then put Heero-kun into the car and drive back home."

"Ok," Ami answered. "Keep me posted."

"Ok, Ami-chan. I'll see you in a while."

"Bye."

"Bye."

After hanging up the phone, Sakura looked down at her sleeping boyfriend. "You are so stubborn sometimes." Sakura bent down and gave Heero a kiss on the mouth, even though Heero wasn't awake to respond, and then held him close to her body, before standing back up and releasing her Star Wand. "Key that Hides the Power of the Stars. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Sakura Command You Under Contract. Release!" After her wand was released, Sakura pulled out two cards. "Power! Jump!"

With Clow enhanced strength and leaping ability, Sakura picked up Heero's unconscious body and leapt up to Wing ZERO's open cockpit. After carefully placing Heero in the auxiliary chair and strapping him in, Sakura sat in the pilot's seat and began the machine's startup procedures. By this time, Sakura had become quite proficient at using Wing ZERO and even though this would be her first time flying without a conscious Heero in the other seat, she felt quite at ease in the powerful robot.

Once all the systems on Wing ZERO were up and running, Sakura closed the cockpit door and walked the Gundam out from behind the trees to the road. Very carefully, Sakura picked up Duo's BMW sedan in Wing ZERO's right hand, making certain not to close the hand far enough to crush the automobile, but also making sure she had a good enough grip that it wouldn't fall out mid-flight. Then, taking a deep breath as she always did before take-off, Sakura hit the throttle, sending Wing ZERO flying into the air. Normally when Sakura was practicing with Wing ZERO she would send the Gundam into a number of fancy maneuvers, but she knew that would not be smart at the moment, and instead flew at top speed straight back to the forest. Just as Heero had taught her, she avoided as many populated areas as possible, and flew at a high altitude, so as not to be seen from the ground. She had originally asked if flying at a high altitude would make the Gundam vulnerable to radar, but Heero had informed her that the Gundam's were impervious to radar technology, and were very difficult to track, except with another Gundam or high tech military equipment.

It didn't take too long for Sakura to reach the forest where Heero and Duo hid Wing ZERO and Deathscythe, and after landing she carefully placed Duo's car on the ground, thankful that it didn't appear to be damaged in any way. She then moved Wing ZERO into a crouching position, shut off all the systems, and opened the cockpit door. Getting Heero out of the auxiliary chair, Sakura hopped to the ground and placed Heero in the passenger seat of Duo's BMW. She had considered asking the for the Heal's help, since she was already there and Heero was badly in need of some medical assistance, but the conversation they had had earlier kept replaying in her mind, and she had a feeling Heero would be pretty angry at her for risking the power of such an important card, so she decided to just head back.

A few hours later, Sakura finally arrived back at the dorms, and with Eriol's help, got Heero up to the guys' suite, where she found Ami waiting. "He can be so stubborn," said Ami as she followed Sakura into Heero's room to check on his wounds. "Just like Syaoran."

"Guess it runs in the family," said Sakura. "How's he look?"

"Well, just like you said before, his breathing and heart rate are pretty close to normal, so that's good," said Ami. "His ribs are still fractured, as expected, but it doesn't look like he broke any more bones. His shoulder, however, is a different story. I think he must have overexerted it during either the flying or the fighting, because although it is still in place, it feels as if there may be a ligament that got torn in there, although there is no way to be certain without an MRI."

"His magic is definitely drained, however," added Eriol. "I have never seen someone with their magical energy so completely used up. It is almost like he ended up using some of his life force to account for the absent magical power, which is probably why he passed out."

"Will he be alright though?" asked Sakura worriedly, not liking the sound of the possibility that Heero had used his life force to replace his diminished magical energy.

"With some rest and a good amount of time, his magical energy should return to normal," answered Eriol.

"And if we can force him to a doctor, with some proper medical treatment, he should physically return to normal as well."

"Thanks, Ami-chan," said Sakura. "You should get some sleep. You look drained, both physically and emotionally."

"I'll be alright," answered Ami. "I want to keep an eye on both of them for a little while longer. Plus, I want to call my mother and see if she can take a look at Heero's injuries tomorrow."

"Thanks, again, Ami-chan," said Sakura. "I'm going to stay here with Heero-kun, so if you want to stay with Syaoran-kun, I'll come get you if something changes."

"Okay," Ami said as she gave Sakura a long hug. "They're strong boys. They'll both be fine."

"I know," Sakura answered before looking down and Heero and whispering. "I know."

Author's Notes:

Here's the end of Chapter 15 of Next Quest. Hope you liked this chapter. I haven't decided if the next thing I work on will be Chapter 16 of this story, or I may do another chapter in my other fic. But either way, hopefully I'll get something uploaded quickly. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy.


	50. Sakura Meets The Moon Queen Part I

Chapter 16: Sakura Meets The Moon Queen

Tokyo, Japan

"Ami-chan! Mina-chan!"

"Usagi-chan! Rei-chan! Mako-chan!"

For the first time in almost a year, all five of the Inner Sailor Senshi finally were back together again. All five girls shrieked out in excitement in an unnaturally high pitch, as they all came together in a tight group hug.

"I've missed you guys."

"How's everyone doing?"

"What's new with all of you?"

"It's been way too long."

"It's great to see you guys again."

To the outside public, the chatter between the five girls sounded like a cluster of undecipherable nonsense, and in reality it probably was, but the girls had their own language. They were all so excited to see each other, the words themselves weren't particularly important, but the mindless chatter worked perfectly well to convey each of their emotions of exhilaration.

Several minutes later, the five girls returned to normal and something at least resembling a civilized conversation began to take place. "Congratulations, Usagi-chan," began Ami.

"We all knew you and Mamoru-san would get married sooner or later," added Minako. "But we're glad to be here for the show."

"Thanks guys!" beamed Usagi as she gave Ami and Minako each a tight hug. "How have you two been?"

"We're good," answered Minako for the both of them. "Oh, I haven't introduced you yet. This is Duo Maxwell and Kinomoto Sakura. Sakura-san, Duo-kun, this is Tsukino Usagi, Hino Rei, and Kino Makoto.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Sakura politely with a slight bow.

"Pleasure to meet you as well," responded Makoto. "Ami-chan and Mina-chan have told us a lot about you."

"I thought you were bringing your boyfriend, Ami-chan?" asked Usagi with a sly grin, causing Ami to blush lightly.

"Not that we aren't excited to meet you as well, Kinomoto-san," added Rei. "But we were all looking forward to seeing what kind of guy Ami-chan chose to be with."

"That's ok," answered Sakura. "I would want to meet Syaoran-kun if I were you as well. And truthfully, not that I am not honored to be at your wedding, Tsukino-san, but I miss my boyfriend too."

"Syaoran-kun and Sakura-chan's boyfriend, Heero-kun, who is also Syaoran's cousin, both had to go back to Hong Kong for family business," explained Ami.

"Though I don't think either of them would really feel the most comfortable at a social event like this," commented Duo, inciting a giggle out of Minako, Ami, and Sakura.

"Why is that so funny?" questioned Makoto, who was a little confused since she didn't know either Syaoran or Heero.

"Yuy-kun and Li-kun aren't the most social of people," said Minako, understating greatly. "Let's just say that if they were here, their faces would make you think you were anywhere but a wedding."

Neither Makoto or Rei and Usagi still quite grasped how serious Heero and Syaoran always were, but they let it go. "So where are the two of you from?" asked Rei to Sakura and Duo.

"I grew up in Tomoeda," answered Sakura.

"I'm from, well, all over," said Duo, not really ever knowing how to answer that question, given his unorthodox life.

"You moved around a lot as a kid?"

"Something like that. I've lived in numerous countries, but most recently I have been staying in the Sanc Kingdom."

"I've heard of the Sanc Kingdom," commented Makoto. "It's supposed to be extremely beautiful there."

"It is," answered Sakura for Duo. "I went there this past winter, and it is gorgeous. And their leader, Princess Relena, who is about our age actually, is so nice. I can't wait to go back this summer."

"You got to meet the Princess?" said Usagi in awe.

"Well, Duo-kun and Heero-kun are good friends with Princess Relena, and my father is down there on an archeological dig for the royal family."

"I'm so envious," whined Usagi. "I want to meet a Princess."

"Usagi-chan," stated Makoto. "You are a princess, remember."

"Oh yeah," said Usagi, chuckling sheepishly to herself. "I forgot."

"As unbelievable as it is," commented Rei, to which Usagi responded by sticking her tongue out at the young priestess.

"So what do you three do?" asked Duo.

"Usagi and Mamoru-san have been living in the United States where Mamoru studies medicine," answered Rei. "Mako-chan is studying cooking oversees in Paris, and I've been traveling Japan to learn from all the temple masters."

"Wow," said Sakura in awe. "You guys are doing such amazing things."

"No offense, Sakura-chan," said Ami. "But you don't exactly have a dull life yourself."

Sakura smiled sheepishly, knowing Ami was right. "Guess you have a point."

"Enough of the chit-chat," interrupted Minako. "I want to see that ring Mamoru-san got you."

Ami put a hand to her head in embarrassment while all the others laughed at Minako's ditzyness. The just as ditzy Usagi held out her hand proudly to show off the sizable crystal clear rock on her finger. "Isn't it the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?"

"It is striking," commented Ami.

"And big," added Minako with a smirk. "How did Mamoru-san afford this?"

"I don't know," answered Usagi, very lightheartedly. "He must love me more than any amount of money I guess."

While all the rest of the girls ogled Usagi's ring, Sakura stood by strangely quiet. Duo, who was feeling a little out of place as the only guy in the area, was the only one to notice Sakura's uncharacteristic behavior. "What's wrong?" Duo asked quietly so that nobody else would hear.

"Tsukino-san's ring," answered Sakura, also quietly. "It is surrounded by a weak Clow aura."

Duo turned toward the future Moon Queen to look at her ring. From what he could tell, it didn't look like anything other than a normal, albeit expensive, piece of jewelry. "Are you sure? None of the other girls seem to notice it."

"It is very faint, but I am positive it is there," Sakura answered. "Being the Card Mistress, I am a little more in tune with the aura of Clow Cards than Ami-chan and the other Senshi. They may not be able to distinguish it over the magical aura of Tsukino-san herself."

"We have to tell them."

"I know," sighed Sakura. "But look how happy Tsukino-san is. How can I just ruin that?"

"_Everything all right?"_ came Heero's voice in Sakura's head. _"I could feel you were a little uneasy about something."_

"_Ami-chan and Mina-san's friend, Tsukino-san, the one who is getting married,"_ began Sakura. _"Her engagement ring is surrounded by a Clow aura and I don't know how to tell her about it."_

"_You should discuss it with Ami-san,"_ said Heero. _"She knows her friend better than you do, and may have an idea of how to deal with the situation."_

"_But what if the Clow Card causes problems?"_

"_Does it feel powerful?"_

"_Can't be sure," _answered Sakura._ "It feels as though it is hiding its power, which is why I think none of the Senshi have felt it yet."_

"_As long as it is hiding its power, the Clow Card can't be planning to do any mischief,"_ said Heero. _"When someone is staying covert, they are not quite ready to strike."_

"_Okay. I'll wait for a chance to talk to Ami-chan about it."_

"Talking to Heero?" came Duo's voice interrupting Sakura's telepathic conversation with Heero.

"Yeah," said Sakura sheepishly, not realizing she had completely neglected the conversation she had been having with the other Gundam pilot. "Sorry, Duo-kun."

"That's alright," Duo answered. "So what did he say?"

"He said to talk to Ami-chan about what to do," Sakura answered. _"So how is Hong Kong?" _Sakura asked Heero, finding it a little harder than she expected to hold a pair of completely separate conversations simultaneously.

"_Haven't done much but train with Wu-Fei,"_ answered Heero. _"I think they really wanted Li to come back more than me. He's been in session with some of the Elders and his mother for the last two days."_

"_I hope he's alright."_

"_I'm sure he'll be fine,"_ answered Heero. _"He's strong. My guess is this has to do with his recent magical difficulties and that situation with the Doubt and Control."_

"_Truthfully, I'm also a little worried about Ami-chan,"_ Sakura said. _"When Syaoran-kun has any personal issues, he usually becomes distant with everyone close to him. He's too proud to allow anyone else to help or sympathize with him."_

"_It's how he was raised. It's in his blood. And it makes you stronger."_

"_I just don't want anything to happen to my friends,"_ said Sakura, a hint of sadness in her thoughts.

"_I know,"_ Heero responded. _"But cheer up. Nothing bad has happened yet, and there is nothing saying anything ever will. Besides, you are at a wedding rehearsal. Those things are supposed to be enjoyable times for people like you."_

In Heero's head, he heard Sakura begin to laugh. _"We were all just joking about what a damper you and Syaoran-kun would likely put on the party if you were here. But it's fun. Ami-chan and Mina-san's friends are really nice."_

"_Then you had better get back to the party,"_ said Heero. _"I don't want to turn you into a bad guest."_

"_Okay,"_ agreed Sakura. _"I'll talk to you later tonight?"_

"_Sure."_

"_That's one more advantage of this telepathic link. No need to worry about finding a phone."_

Though she couldn't see it, Sakura was positive Heero was smiling, at least partially, at her joke. _"Until tonight."_

"_Bye, Heero-kun. I'll say hi to Ami-chan for you."_

"Sorry, Duo-kun," said Sakura to the Gundam pilot still standing next to her. "I'm back now."

"No worries," responded Duo. "I know Heero means a lot to you. And how you did it I'll never know, but he cares about you just as much." Sakura blushed a dark crimson at Duo's comments about her and Heero. "And besides, it's almost unnatural nowadays to see the two of you apart."

"I guess between school and Clow Cards and training, we are together a lot."

"That's the understatement of the century," commented Minako. "You two are practically joined at the hip."

Sakura stared down at the ground in embarrassment as all the girls began to lightly giggle. "We don't mean to embarrass you, Sakura-chan," consoled Ami as she wrapped her arms protectively around the blushing girl. "We just think it's cute."

Even though she was still feeling embarrassed beyond measure, Sakura's mind was still thinking. Taking advantage of her close proximity to Ami, Sakura whispered very softly in her ear. "When you have a chance, I need to talk to you in private."

Ami's face contorted slightly at hearing the seriousness in Sakura's voice, but with her back to the others, nobody could tell. Without saying a word, Ami nodded her head just the slightest bit, so that Sakura could feel her saying yes, but it would look like anything but a natural motion to the others.

After Ami finally let go of the Clow Mistress, Sakura put a genuine smile on her face, for despite her current concerns with the Clow Card, she still did love weddings. "I didn't get a chance to say so earlier, but the three of you look very beautiful."

"Of course!" agreed Rei as she, Usagi, and Makoto each struck a pose. Minako, Sakura, and Ami all laughed at the joking of the three Senshi, but Ami and Minako fully agreed with Sakura's compliment.

Rei was wearing a beautiful close-fitting red thigh length dress, accentuated by her raven hair, bright red lipstick, and black high heals. Makoto had on a dress similar in style to Rei's, but dark green in color. The outfit was complimented by black heels, her signature pink rose earrings, and pale pink lipstick. Usagi's dress was a pure white, just as she felt a bride should be dressed. It was a body hugging and ran down her entire length, stopping just at the top of her white open-toed heels. Her long blonde hair was up in an intricate bun instead of her normal style which had initially prompted her fiancé to call her meatball head.

"You three look gorgeous as well," replied Makoto, returning the compliment Sakura had given her.

"You too, Maxwell-kun," added Rei with a joking wink.

Minako and Duo both laughed and struck a pose, while Sakura blushed and looked down at the ground, and Ami hid her head in her hands in embarrassment. Even though only Duo and Minako really enjoyed the compliments, both Sakura and Ami also looked just as amazing.

Duo was dressed relatively simply, just wearing a black suit and shirt, but his demeanor added a little flare to an otherwise normal outfit. Minako's dress was yellow in color, low-cut and stopping just shy of her knees. Her accessories included pair of high heels, bright red lipstick, and a pair of diamond earrings Duo had bought for her. Tomoyo had offered to make Minako a dress for both the wedding and the rehearsal, but the Venus Senshi loved to shop, so had politely declined her offer. She had, however, asked Tomoyo to accompany her to purchase the dresses, weighing the future fashion designer's opinion very heavily on her decisions.

While Minako had decided to buy her dresses herself, Ami and Sakura both happily accepted Tomoyo's offer, though Tomoyo didn't really leave Sakura much of a choice. Since Ami got the invitation to Usagi's wedding months in advance, Tomoyo had plenty of time to create two works of art for the Mercury Senshi. The one she was currently wearing was a shimmering silver satin material, with spaghetti straps and a V-neckline with a one side overlap, bunching on Ami's left. The gown had a matching silver wrap and Ami finished off the outfit with a pair of silver heels and the magic infused diamond necklace Syaoran had given her that never left her neck. For the wedding itself, Tomoyo had designed Ami an elegant, yet sexy, glittering pale blue gown with a plunging halter neckline in front, and even lower cut in the back, with a long slit up one leg. Ami had been hesitant at first because the dress would obviously show a lot of skin, but after trying it on and looking at herself in the mirror, even she had to admit the creation was magnificent. Ami had originally thought Usagi would pick a specific design for bridesmaids dresses for her and the other Senshi, but in the end, Usagi decided to just have each girl pick their own outfit.

Though Tomoyo had a couple months to design and perfect Ami's gowns, she didn't have the same luxury with Sakura's. It was only a couple weeks before the wedding that Syaoran and Heero had been called back to Hong Kong, so Tomoyo didn't find out that Sakura would be going with Ami until that time. Luckily, she was always continually designing new outfits for her favorite model, and was able to fashion two great dresses on the fly. The first, which Sakura was currently wearing, was made of a emerald green jersey fabric. The dress was a curve hugging halter style that tied in the back, leaving Sakura's shoulders and upper back exposed, with an asymmetrical hemline right above her knees. The dress and matching open-toed shoes were the perfect supplement to the Card Mistress' green eyes, with her diamond necklace and pink lipstick being just enough to catch a person's eye. The dress Tomoyo designed for Sakura to wear at the wedding itself was, obviously, pink. However, offsetting the innocence of the pale pink satin fabric, the style of the gown had a deep plunging halter neckline and a fully exposed back. It was a full length slim fitting silhouette with fabric detail at the waistline and a classic flow down Sakura's legs.

"Hey sweetheart," interrupted a tall, handsome guy with dark black hair and a strong jaw. "It's about time to sit down for dinner."

"Ok," answered Usagi as she gave the guy a kiss. "You remember Ami-chan and Mina-chan. And this is Duo Maxwell and Kinomoto Sakura. Kinomoto-san, Maxwell-kun, this is my fiancé, Chiba Mamoru."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," introduced Sakura.

"Congrats," added Duo.

"Good to meet the both of you as well," Mamoru replied. "Thank you both for coming. Although I thought I remembered from the guest list that Ami-san was bringing a Li Syaoran."

"He had to go back to Hong Kong for a while," answered Ami. "So I brought Sakura-chan."

"I see," answered Mamoru. "Well, it is a pleasure to have you here."

"It is my honor to be here," Sakura responded with a slight bow of respect. Mamoru smiled slightly at Sakura's politeness before ushering everyone to their correct places for the rest of the rehearsal dinner.


	51. Sakura Meets The Moon Queen Part II

Tokyo, Japan

"So I'll see you both in the morning?" Usagi asked Ami and Sakura in front of their hotel room.

"We'll be there bright and early," answered Ami with a smile.

"It was wonderful seeing you again, Ami-san," added Mamoru. "And it was a pleasure to meet you, Kinomoto-san."

"The honor was all mine," Sakura replied.

"Goodnight, both of you," said Ami.

"Goodnight." Usagi gave both Ami and Sakura a big hug as they said goodnight and she and Mamoru left to head down the hall to their own room.

Ami and Sakura had originally been situated on the same floor as Minako and Duo, but unbeknownst to them, Heero and Syaoran had upgraded their reservations to one of the nicest rooms on the upper floors of the hotel, so now they were located just down the hall from the extraordinarily expensive suite Usagi and Mamoru had splurged to get for their wedding. At first, the two girls had been a little upset with the guys for wasting the extra money, but before long they accepted that it was just the two of them being sweet, and started to enjoy the experience. The room itself was not only spacious, but beautiful and elegant. It was split into two rooms, one with a soft and spacious king size bed the two girls were sharing, and the other with a pair of couches and other entertainment amenities.

"I love this bed!" exclaimed Sakura as she jumped onto the soft mattress, landing on her back while still dressed in the elegant gown Tomoyo had designed for her.

Ami laughed at Sakura's innocent charm as she watched the beautiful girl spread out and sink into the comfortable bedspread. "You should change out of that dress first, Sakura-chan," commented Ami as she walked toward the closet and began pulling her own masterpiece off her smooth shoulders and slipping it down her body to hang it up. "You don't want to ruin it."

"I know," answered Sakura as she got off the bed and walked over to the closet where Ami was diligently hanging up her gown. "I can't wait to see the other girls' reactions when they see you in your dress tomorrow." Ami's deep crimson blush of embarrassment traveled throughout her entire face, and even reddened her neck and shoulders. And to make matters worse, her embarrassment deepened further when Sakura laughed and wrapped her arms around her upper chest and gave her a tight hug. Normally a hug from Sakura wouldn't embarrass the Mercury Princess even the slightest, however, due to the style of her dress, Ami had been unable to wear a bra underneath and taking off the garment to hang it up left the girl currently naked from the waist up.

"Umm," stuttered Ami. "Sakura-chan…"

Sakura only giggled in response and gave Ami a friendly kiss on the cheek before grabbing her pajamas and skipping to the bathroom to change. Ami could only stare in shock and confusion at the back of the playful Card Mistress as she disappeared behind the closed door. She stared for several moments are the closed door before turning back toward the closet and fingering her dress for tomorrow. Without really thinking, she pulled it out from the closet and held it up against her body in front of the mirror. "I wonder if Syaoran-kun would like it…" Ami whispered to herself.

"I'd bet my life on it," came Sakura's voice quietly in the Mercury Princess' ear. Ami yelped at the surprise, completely unaware that she had been staring in the mirror so long. She quickly realized she still had not yet redressed, and hurriedly hung the dress back up and grabbed a towel out of the closet to cover herself. "I never realized you liked walking around naked so much."

Ami's entire body blushed an almost unnaturally deep shade of red, causing Sakura to laugh uncontrollably in amusement as she gave Ami another hug before jumping back onto the soft hotel bed, now dressed in her pink silk pajamas. Ami took the opportunity to grab her nightgown and pull it over her head before slowly walking over to the bed and shyly sitting at the corner with her arms in her lap. Sakura continued to giggle as she crawled across the spacious bed and wrapped her arms around Ami's neck, and rested her head on her shoulder. "You're way to beautiful to be so shy," Sakura said quietly since she was so close to the girl's ear. "But it is definitely a shame that Syaoran-kun left before you could show him the dress you are wearing tomorrow."

"Are you sure it isn't too revealing?" Ami asked as she placed her own hands on Sakura's arms. "I just don't ever wear things quite so mature."

"Don't worry, Ami-chan," consoled Sakura. "You know as well as I do how great you look in that dress. Besides, between your intelligence, your kindness, your caring, and your beauty, you are easily one of the most perfect girls anyone could ever hope to meet."

"Thanks, Sakura-chan."

"Plus, there aren't that many girls who like walking around topless."

Ami blushed for the umpteenth time that night as Sakura broke out in a fit of laughter, grasping Ami in a tighter friendly hug. Eventually, after overcoming her embarrassment, Ami too began to laugh along with Sakura, knowing the Card Mistress was only joking around. As the girls continued to laugh and giggle, they fell backward onto the spacious bed. After both laughing to their hearts content, the two girls laid silently on their backs on the bed, catching their breath. Lying in the silence finally brought a memory back to Ami's mind. "Weren't you saying something earlier about needing to talk to me in private?"

Sakura paused momentarily, the thought of the Clow Card in Usagi's ring temporarily having fled her mind. "I almost forgot," answered Sakura after a moment. "There is something I need to discuss with you, but I'm not really sure how to tell you."

"What is it? Is it something serious?"

"It has to do with the new Clow Cards," Sakura explained.

"The Clow Cards?" repeated Ami. "Did you find another one? Or did Heero-kun tell you about one? Does it have something to do with Syaoran-kun…"

Sakura put a finger gently on Ami's mouth to stop her from her continual spouting of different ideas as the Senshi's mind created more and more possible situations. "Syaoran-kun is fine. It is actually your first guess. I found another one."

"Really? Where?" Sakura only paused in response, prompting Ami to continue. "Sakura-chan?"

"Tsukino-san's ring…" Sakura finally said, quietly.

"What about Usagi-chan's ring?"

"It's a Clow Card."

Ami's eyes went wide in shock. "Are you sure?"

Sakura slowly nodded her head. "I wish I was wrong. But I'm positive."

"But I didn't feel anything. And Usagi-chan has a lot of magical power, so she should have felt it too." In truth, Ami knew Sakura wouldn't lie about something like this, but she was grasping at any straw she could find that might mean Sakura was mistaken.

"I'm sorry, Ami-chan," Sakura said. "But I'm positive Tsukino-san's ring is a Clow Card. It is hiding it's power, so I was barely able to detect it, and that is probably the reason you and the other Sailor Senshi have been unable to detect it."

Ami's face clearly sunk as the reality of Sakura's information set in. "How do I explain this to Usagi-chan?"

"I was worried about the same thing," responded Sakura. "That is why Heero-kun said to talk to you first. Tsukino-san is your friend, so I believe she will appreciate it more if it comes from you."

"She loves Mamoru-san so much. It is going to kill her to find out that her ring is a Clow Card."

"There is a possibility that the ring itself is not a Clow Card. It could just be a Card hiding itself in or around the ring."

"You really think so?" asked Ami hopefully.

"With the Clow Cards, anything is possible," Sakura answered with a smile.

"_Be careful, Sakura,"_ Heero's voice echoed in Sakura's head. _"Lying to her to get her hopes up will not help the situation."_

"_Well, it is possible…"_

"_Sakura-chan."_

"_I know,"_ answered Sakura with a mental sigh, knowing she would never be able to fool Heero since her emotions would easily give her away. "Ami-chan," Sakura said aloud, her fake smile disappearing from her face. "I shouldn't be getting your hopes up. The truth is that I'm positive the ring itself is the Clow Card. I'm sorry I lied before, but I just didn't want to hurt either you or Tsukino-san."

"I know, Sakura-chan," Ami said. "In truth, I think I knew you were just trying to make me feel better, I just wanted to believe it so much."

"Then I guess we were both doing pretty much the same thing."

"It would seem so." Ami paused. "So how is Heero-kun? I assume you were talking telepathically with him sometime earlier in the day."

"He's doing well," answered Sakura with a smile, much preferring to talk about happy things instead of Usagi's Clow Card ring. "He said he's been mostly training with his Gundam pilot friend."

"And Syaoran-kun…?"

"Mmm… Heero-kun said Syaoran-kun has been in session with the Li Clan Elders for the past two days. That doesn't necessarily mean anything bad is happening to him, but Heero-kun doesn't really know what is going on."

"I wish I could talk with him," Ami said. "When I tried calling earlier, Li Yelan-sama said he was in the middle of training, and would tell him I had called when he was finished."

"Then maybe he'll call any minute," suggested Sakura, hopefully.

Ami's face dropped a little. "That was two days ago. I know Li-sama wouldn't lie to me, so either he is still training, or he chose not to call."

"I'm sure he would call as soon as he was able," consoled Sakura, as she scooted over on the bed to give Ami a hug. "Heero-kun did say Syaoran-kun was talking with the Elders for the past two days. It didn't occur to me earlier, but it wouldn't surprise me if that meant literally all day for two days."

"They really do that?"

Sakura nodded. "Definitely. Syaoran-kun told me once when he was younger, his teachers made him meditate for five straight days for mental training. He wasn't even allowed to eat or drink during that time."

"I knew Syaoran-kun trained hard as a kid, but I had no idea just how tough it must have been."

"According to Meilin-chan, after Syaoran-kun's father passed away, he didn't really have a childhood. Meilin-chan was pretty much his only friend, and he spent his entire days either in school or in training."

"I never really realized how little I know about Syaoran-kun."

"He doesn't really like to talk about himself much," Sakura said. "Almost everything I know about him I learned from Meilin-chan. But I wouldn't worry. When Syaoran-kun is ready to talk about himself, I'm certain he'll go straight to you."

"Thanks, Sakura-chan," answered Ami with a bright smile. "You are a really good friend." Sakura smiled in response and the two girls shared a long, friendly, hug.

"So what do you want to do about Tsukino-san's ring?" Sakura asked, bringing the conversation back to the situation at hand.

"I don't know," Ami said sadly. "I wish there was some way of capturing the Clow Card without Usagi-chan ever knowing."

"Maybe there is," suggested Sakura. "We could sneak into their room and capture it without them noticing."

"But they would notice when Usagi-chan wakes up without her ring," Ami pointed out.

"That's true," conceded Sakura. "But maybe we can replace it somehow as well?"

"How would we do that?"

"If we can manage to capture the Clow Card, eventually we can get Heero-kun to transform the card and then he should be able to get it to return to the same form."

"But even if we can do all that, we still can't just leave the Clow Card as Usagi-chan's ring forever."

"We can take it now and then tell Tsukino-san the truth tomorrow," suggested Sakura. "It should be easier for her to understand the situation after we have captured the Card."

"Perhaps," agreed Ami. "Otherwise, Usagi-chan will probably not want to hear the truth. But how are we going to sneak into their room and capture the Clow Card without them noticing?"

Sakura placed her finger on her chin, realizing she hadn't thought her plan all the way through, and attempting to discern a method of stealthily capturing the Clow Card. "The easiest way would be to use the Sleep on them, but given the magical levels of both Tsukino-san and Chiba-san, I doubt it has enough power to work. I wish we had Heero-kun's Remove Card, but he took all his Cards with him to Hong Kong."

"_Sorry, Sakura-chan,"_ came Heero's voice in Sakura's head, although it sounded a little out of breath, making Sakura believe Heero was likely training, so she decided not to bother responding.

"What about the Move Card in your deck?" suggested Ami. "That has similar powers to the Remove Card."

"It might work. But the Move is not very powerful, and I am not sure it can move a Clow Card."

"Well, there is always the old-fashioned way," Ami said. "We sneak into their room, and we 'borrow' it without either of them waking up. Although, truthfully, I don't really like the idea of breaking into their room and stealing Usagi-chan's ring."

"Neither do I. But sometimes strategies like that become necessary," Sakura pointed out, remembering her slight law infringements she committed as a child when capturing Clow Cards like Watery and Silent.

"Do you have any ideas on how to sneak into their room without being detected?"

Her previous thoughts about the Silent Card brought a few new ideas to Sakura's head. "I think we can use a couple Clow Cards to mask our presence, keeping Tsukino-san and Chiba-san from waking up. We can use the Silent to make certain they won't hear us, Dark so they won't see us, Shadow to take the ring so Tsukino-san can't feel us, and the Time to keep anyone else from interrupting."

"That sounds like a lot of Cards being used at once," commented Ami. "Are you sure you have enough energy to use all those and capture the new Clow Card?"

"That's a good point," admitted Sakura, who hadn't considered that she was going to have to fight and capture the new Clow Card. "Especially since Dark and Time are so powerful."

"Maybe we can do this without the Dark and Time Cards," Ami suggested. "If we just make sure to hide in a dark spot in the room, we won't need the Dark, and just hope that since it is late that nobody will be disturbing Usagi-chan and Mamoru-san, we can forgo using the Time Card too. That way you would only have to use Silent and Shadow."

"And Lock," Sakura added. "I just realized we have to get into the room somehow too, and we don't have Heero-kun to open the door for us."

"Good point. I had forgotten about that."

"But either way, using those three Cards should be simple, since none of them are overly powerful anyway."

"Okay. Then we should probably change, since if Usagi-chan wakes up, I think they will probably see us considering we are wearing pink and light blue."

Sakura giggled lightly, realizing that her own shimmering satin pink pajamas and Ami's silk light blue nightgown would be easily distinguishable with even the most minimal light. "We should also wait a little before going, just to make certain they have already gone to sleep, because me and Heero-kun always stay up for a while, and since Tsukino-san and Chiba-san are getting married, they might be doing more, umm, personal things." By the time Sakura was finished with her explanation, both she and Ami were blushing profusely, picturing things in their head they wish they weren't, and both wishing Sakura hadn't bothered explaining herself.

"Go…Good thinking," Ami finally managed to stammer. "We'll wait for another hour."

About an hour and a half later, the two girls were finally ready to embark on their thievery journey. It had been a little more difficult than they had imagined to find clothing to wear for the stealth mission, both wishing a little that Tomoyo had been there with her never-ending supply of clothing. In the end, Sakura had to borrow a dark green sweater from Ami since she didn't have any dark colored tops to go with her dark blue skirt, and Ami was wearing a pair of Sakura's blue shorts to go along with her own midnight blue top. Both of them knew that Tomoyo would have a fit if they saw them, since neither of them was matching very well, but figured they weren't going to a fashion show, so it shouldn't matter too much. Luckily, both girls had thought to each bring a pair of regular shoes, for neither one was keen on the idea of sneaking around in their fancy heals they brought to go with their dresses for the wedding.

Both keeping an eye out for any people in the hallways, Sakura and Ami quietly slipped out of their own room, and down the hall to the suite occupied by Usagi and Mamoru. Sakura called forth the Lock Card, which quickly made its way through the electronic lock in the hotel door, allowing the Card Captor to quietly click the door open. Once inside the room, Sakura released the Silent Card, and Ami and herself found a dark corner to hide.

Ami turned toward Sakura and started to speak, but stopped when she noticed no words were coming out of her mouth. She knew Sakura had released the Silent Card so that no sounds would be made, but having never seen the Card in action, she hadn't realized that it would mute her own speech as well. To overcome the small problem, Ami pulled out a pad of paper and a pen, at which she noticed Sakura was surprised Ami even had with her, and began writing a note so that she and Sakura could communicate.

'_So how exactly are we going to get the ring?'_

Handing the paper and pen over to Sakura, the Card Mistress read the note and wrote her own response. _'Depends. Do you see it?'_

Ami read Sakura's question and began scanning the room hoping Usagi had taken the ring off her finger to sleep. Unfortunately, Ami quickly caught sight of the large diamond on Usagi's ring finger. _'It's on Usagi's finger.'_

Sakura read the remark and turned to find the ring herself, easily spotting it on the Moon Queen's hand, which laid draped off the side of the bed. Instead of writing a response to tell Ami what she was planning, Sakura pulled out the Shadow Card and showed it to her. It was clear that Ami was still confused at what Sakura was planning, so Sakura motioned for Ami to just sit and watch, and she would see what Sakura meant.

Sakura called forth the Shadow Card, and using the low glow from the moonlight coming through the window, Sakura proceeded to have the Shadow carefully wrap itself around the ring, and gently slide it off the sleeping Princess' finger. Once the ring was safely off Usagi's finger, the Shadow brought it to its Mistress and Sakura and Ami quickly and quietly left the room.

"How did you know you could do that?" Ami questioned, once the two were outside and the effects of the Silent had been removed.

"I had to do a similar maneuver when capturing the Silent back in elementary school," Sakura answered as she stared at the ring she had just stolen from Ami's friend. "I feel kind of bad taking this."

"I know," Ami responded. "I do too. So lets just figure out how to capture this Clow Card so we can put this all behind us."

"Right. I Sakura, Mistress of the Cards Command You. Return to Your True Form. Clow Card!"

At the command of the Card Mistress, the new Clow Card, which had been hiding its power, suddenly came to life. The ring flashed a bright white, before changing from the inanimate form into a person shaped figure that was sparkling and translucent. The magical energy waves emanating from Sakura's wand attempted to capture the Clow Card and force it back into Card form, however, without having done it any damage, the Card was reluctant to change back.

"I guess we have to fight it first," stated Sakura, seeing that her attempt at a quick capture had failed.

Ami nodded and grasped her transformation wand. "Mercury Crystal Power, Make-Up!" In a flash, Ami transformed into Sailor Mercury and moved into a fighting stance, ready for the battle. The Card, which was apparently angry at being disturbed, didn't give either Ami or Sakura a chance to attack, as it suddenly sent a spray of diamond shards at the two girls. As the girls moved to evade the attack, they realized too late that fighting in the confined space of a hotel hallway gave them too few options, as they both ran into the walls as they did their back flips. The error of not realizing the effects of being in the confined space proved costly, as Sakura was struck by three of the diamond shards, leaving deep scrapes on her upper left leg, and Ami was hit by a pair on her right forearm. Both girls winced at the pain, but didn't cry out, but quickly stepped backward to put some distance between themselves and their attacker.

"We can't fight in here," stated Sakura. "There's not enough room."

"You're right," agreed Ami. "We've got to lure it out of here and into the open."

"Let's split up. You head down the stairs, and I'll use the Fly Card and go out the window. Hopefully it will follow one of us outside where we can fight more effectively."

"Ok," Ami answered with a nod. "I'll see you on the ground." Ami turned and quickly shot through the door and into the stairwell, making her way down from the upper floors. Had Ami been in her normal form as opposed to being Sailor Mercury, she would likely have taken the elevator, for she currently had about twenty flights of stairs to speed down.

Meanwhile, back on the twenty-second floor, Sakura was having a few more problems then she was expecting. Right after Ami had disappeared, the Clow Card had decided to start attacking again. This time, however, Sakura took into account the enclosed hallway, and had called the Shield to protect herself. Unfortunately, this time the Clow Card didn't stop at only a single attack, and continued the barrage of diamond shards. Sakura knew her shield wouldn't last forever, but didn't know where she could run to. There was no way she was going to be able to make it to the stairwell before the Clow Card's attacks would reach her, and there was also no way she could make it to the window with the attacking Card directly in her path. Sakura looked around in all directions, until finally an idea occurred to her. Calling forth the Sword Card while still within her protective barrier, Sakura made four clean slices right through the floor of the hallway, and dropped down to the floor below. As her Shield Card returned to her deck, Sakura saw the diamond shards fly by overhead, and knowing she had to act quickly, Sakura called forth the Fly and sped her way down the hall and straight at the outside window. Again using the power of the Sword Card, Sakura sliced her way through the wall and hovered in the air outside. She looked downward, and was a little surprised to already see Ami waiting downstairs, her visor engaged, and scanning the area.

"Look out!" Sakura heard the echo from Ami's warning just in time to zip out of the way as she saw the Clow Card falling right past her and landing with a loud thump on the hard concrete ground below. Sakura looked back up toward the hotel's upper floors and saw a gaping hole one floor above her own clean cut square exit, and could only assume the Clow Card had figured out that she had escaped outdoors and had simply jumped through the wall after her. When she looked back down, Sakura noticed Ami had gotten into a fighting stance, indicating the Clow Card was still unharmed. Before she got a chance to fly back down to assist, Sakura saw Ami form one of her Mercury water attacks. She wasn't positive since it was her first time seeing the attack from above, but Sakura thought it was Ami's Mercury Aqua Mirage. Sakura watched the attack impact directly on center mass of the Clow Card and surround it completely in water, and was about to fly down to congratulate her Senshi friend, when suddenly the ball of water surrounding the it exploded to reveal a completely unharmed Clow Card.

Seeing Ami taking a few steps back from the Clow Card, Sakura could only assume that it truly was just as undamaged as it appeared from above. Thinking that maybe the Card had a natural defense from water, Sakura pulled out her Firey to see if it had any more luck. Upon release, the powerful fire entity shot through the air and engulfed the entire area surrounding the new Clow Card. Unfortunately, the fire element turned out to be just as fruitless against the new enemy as Sailor Mercury's attack.

"Any ideas?" asked Sakura after landing next to Ami on the ground.

"Not really," Ami responded. "I can't get a good read on any weaknesses."

"Maybe we can be of assistance!" called out a voice from way up above the heads of Sakura and Ami.

Ami and Sakura both looked upwards toward the higher floors of the hotel. "Sailor Moon! Tuxedo Mask!" exclaimed Sailor Mercury.

"And don't forget about us!"

Ami and Sakura shifted their gaze downward toward the main entrance of the hotel to see Minako, Makoto, and Rei, along with Duo, all in Senshi form. "Venus! Mars! Jupiter! You are all here!"

"Looks like we are just in time," commented a calm voice from behind Sakura and Ami.

Ami and Sakura both shot their heads around to see where the new voice had come from. Sakura looked on in slight confusion, not recognizing any of the four apparent Senshi standing next to the pair of cars on the side of the street. "Uranus! Neptune! Pluto! Saturn!" exclaimed Ami, answering Sakura's question before she even had a chance to ask it.

"So the whole gang is back together again," commented Sailor Neptune.

"What are you guys doing here?" asked Ami in confusion. "I didn't think you would be arriving until the wedding tomorrow."

"Hotaru-chan wanted to stay in the fancy hotel," answered Sailor Uranus as she messed with the blushing younger Senshi's hair. Even though Hotaru was already in high school, Michiru, Setsuna, and especially Haruka, still sometimes treated her like she was still a little girl.

While Ami and Sakura were distracted by the arrival of all the other Sailor Senshi, the Clow Card did not do the same. Instead, apparently sensing that the newcomers to the area were all enemies, the Clow Card unleashed yet another attack. The new assault was very similar to its first, only this time the diamond shards were shot in all directions instead of linearly. Fortunately, given the distance everyone was away from the Card, by the time the shards were near to the heroes, they had dispersed far enough apart that Sakura and the Senshi could all dodge easily.

Sailor Moon and Tuxedo mask jumped down from their elevated position on the upper floors of the hotel, to land near Venus, Mars, and Jupiter, who had all taken up fighting stances after hopping in different directions to avoid the diamond shards. The Outer Senshi didn't bother dodging, as Saturn used her Silence Wall to block the incoming attacks. It would have probably been much simpler for the girls to simply dodge the attack, but Hotaru knew how much Haruka valued her sports car, and decided to protect it. "Good job, Saturn," commented Haruka, praising the girl for protecting her automobile.

"So what are we fighting?" Sailor Neptune asked Mercury, surprising the Senshi genius a bit with how stealthily she had snuck up next to her.

"It's a magical entity called a Clow Card," answered Ami.

"Most of the Clow Cards aren't evil or inherently bad," added Sakura. "They simply have a tendency to cause mischief."

"So what do we do with it?"

"Normally it is a matter of defeating it either physically or magically," responded Sakura. "But this Clow Card seems to be very resistant to magic, and neither of us are very overpowering in terms of physical combat."

"Then you two can take a break, and we'll take care of it from here," commented Jupiter, who had ended up near Ami, Sakura, and Michiru's position after dodging the various diamond shard attacks sent her way by the Clow Card. Makoto gave a confident grin to her Senshi allies and turned toward the Clow Card to finally go on the offensive. "All right you big… whatever you are," Jupiter taunted as she smacked her fist into her palm. "It's time for me to introduce myself."

Jupiter charged head-on at the Clow Card. On the short path between herself and her enemy, Jupiter had to nimbly dodge a few more diamond shards, but made it to her target easily enough. She began her assault with a roundhouse kick to the Clow Card's head, and followed it up with a series of punches to the face and midsection of the magical entity. Unfortunately, punching the Clow Card was like punching a boulder. While it made no move to fight back or block, it still stood unmoving despite the powerful strikes the Earth Senshi was unloading on its form.

Seeing the ineffectiveness of her assault, Jupiter took single hop back, and looked on in confusion at her enemy. She was thinking of trying to attack again, but before she had a chance, in an unexpectedly fast move, the Clow Card was in front of her, and knocked her through the air toward Ami and Sakura, with a powerful uppercut punch to the torso.

"Jupiter!" exclaimed Mercury as she ran toward her friend who was being held by Duo while grasping her torso in pain after the Gundam pilot managed to catch her before she could land on the hard asphalt ground.

"Oww," coughed out Makoto. "Yeah, physical attacks don't work so well. The thing is harder than a boulder."

"That's because I think it is made of diamond," answered Mercury. "The hardest material on the planet."

"So if magic doesn't work, and it is so physically tough," commented Duo. "How do we beat it?"

"We do whatever we can think of," answered Michiru as she looked over at Haruka and Setsuna and gave them a nod. "Deep Submerge!"

"World Shaking!"

"Dead Scream."

The powerful turquoise, yellow, and pink energy balls created by the three Outer Senshi spiraled around each other and impacted with a massive explosion directly on the form of the Clow Card. The entire area was lit up by the multicolored energy explosion, and when the dust settled, a gaping crater replaced the area the Clow Card was previously occupying.

"Did we get it?" asked Uranus when she saw nothing at the blast point of the attacks.

"I don't see," began Pluto, until suddenly a loud crash was heard and the Clow Card pulled itself out from under a pile of rubble that was created by the Outer Senshi attacks. "Never mind. It looks like it's still relatively undamaged."

"Guess now it's our turn," stated Sailor Moon. "Moon Gorgeous Meditation!"

"Mars Flame Sniper!"

"Venus Love and Beauty Shock!"

As Rei's fire arrow and Minako's chain of hearts spiraled around Usagi's Moon Kaleidoscope attack, the trio of energies flew straight at the Clow Card, impacting with another explosion, very similar to the one caused by the Outer Senshi attacks. Knowing from previous experience not to celebrate too quickly, the three girls waited to see if their strike had any more effect on the Clow Card than the previous attacks. Unfortunately, their doubt turned out to be verified, as the Clow Card was indeed undamaged by the attack.

"Nothing seems to work," Sailor Moon commented.

"Ami-chan, you said that you think the Clow Card is made of diamond, right?" asked Sakura.

"Right," confirmed Ami with a nod.

"How is diamond normally cut?"

"If I'm not mistaken, it's cut using a diamond tipped saw," answered Ami. "So basically it is cutting diamond with diamond."

"So then it is possible to cut a diamond, just not easy," verified Sakura as she pulled out one of her Sakura Cards. "Sword!" Upon release of the Sword Card, Sakura's wand transformed into a mystical fencing sword. Newly armed, Sakura, who still has the wings provided from the power of the Fly Card attached to her back, flew straight at the Clow Card with sword raised above her head, ready to strike. Unexpectedly, however, when Sakura struck at the large torso region of the Clow Card, it dodged. The move surprised the Clow Mistress, who had assumed that the Card would just take this attack the same way as all the others. However, Sakura didn't panic. While she didn't often train with weapons when she practiced her martial arts with Syaoran and Heero, the training did increase her mental awareness during battle, and as a result, Sakura kept her head and followed up her missed attack with another. The follow-up sideways slash was also dodged by the Clow Card, as was her third diagonal strike. Sakura paused for a moment after her third attempted attack to regain her stance and think of a new strategy. At first she couldn't think of anything, but after a while an idea popped into her head. Pulling out a Sakura Card that she never thought she would use in battle, the Clow Mistress took a couple hops backwards to put a little distance between herself and the Clow Card. "Flower!"

Though Sakura was too busy to notice, all the Senshi each raised an eyebrow in confusion as to why Sakura was releasing a dense cloud of flower petals. Ami, who happened to be closest to Sakura, was about to ask what Sakura was thinking, when the girl suddenly disappeared into the cloud of flowers. "What is going on?" Ami heard Minako asking from behind her.

"I don't know what she's thinking," Ami answered honestly.

"It's a diversion," Duo answered for her. "A tactic she probably picked up from Heero. The Clow Card was too agile for her to land a strike, so she is using the flowers to mask her approach and allow her to attack before the enemy has a chance to dodge."

"Think it will work?" Ami asked.

"We'll find out soon enough," replied Duo. "Although, considering the power of the enemy, even if the tactic works, there is no certainty that her strikes will even do any damage."

With both Sakura and the Clow Card enemy encompassed in the cloud of beautiful pink flower petals, all Duo and the Senshi could do was watch and wait. For the most part the entire area was deathly quiet, minus the occasional clang that the others could only assume was the sound of Sakura's sword striking against the diamond hard exterior of the Clow Card.

"Do you think she's doing any damage?" asked Makoto to nobody in particular.

Before anyone had a chance to answer, the cloud of flowers exploded outward and through the disappearing magical petals, Sakura, surrounded by a protective bubble apparently created by the Shield, came flying through the air before doing a flip and smoothly landing in a crouching position.

Rei, who happened to be the closest to where Sakura landed, ran over to the smaller girl to make certain she was alright. "You okay?" asked the Fire Senshi as she held out a hand to help Sakura back to her feet.

"I'm okay," answered Sakura as she took Sailor Mars' outstretched hand and popped up to her feet. "I was able to use the Flower Card to mask my approach and land a few strikes, but it didn't seem to do anything."

"Actually," interrupted Ami, who had her Mercury visor over her eyes and was inspecting the enemy. "The Clow Card now has a number of small fractures all over its body."

"Cracks that weren't there before?" asked Neptune for clarification.

"Definitely," replied Mercury. "Before, the Clow Card had a completely flawless exterior. Now, I count exactly nine small cracks, and fifteen scuffs and scratches."

"Then let's see if we can finish the job Kinomoto-san started," stated Sailor Moon as she got into a battle position and prepared an attack. "Ready guys?"

"Ready," answered all eight other Senshi as they followed their leader's example and got into attack positions themselves, while Sakura and Duo stepped back to stay out of the way.

"Moon Gorgeous Meditation!"

"Jupiter Oak Evolution!"

"Mars Flame Sniper!"

"World Shaking!"

"Deep Submerge!"

"Dead Scream."

"Silence Glaive Surprise!"

"Venus Love and Beauty Shock!"

"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"

The nine attacks from the nine different directions all impacted within seconds of each other, the resulting explosion increasing in size with each strike. Sakura could only awe at the combined power of the Senshi attacks, finally truly understanding why the Li Elders made such a big deal about them. She was especially surprised at the power created by Sailor Saturn, who was easily the youngest of the Senshi. In truth, the power of Sailor Saturn worried her a little, for it didn't quite feel as positive as the energy coming from all the other Senshi. It was not an evil feeling power, but was more like a neutral, indiscriminating power that could easily be used for either good or evil. Given what she knew about the Senshi, Sakura didn't want to jump to any type of conclusions about the girl, but still made a mental note to ask Ami about the situation when she got a chance.

Bringing her attention back to the Clow Card, Sakura saw that the dust had almost settled and she would soon find out if they had finally defeated the Clow Card. She had a good feeling, as she could no longer feel the power of the Clow Card, but had recently learned not to misjudge this particular enemy. Holding her breath, much like the other Senshi, Sakura waited and waited, until she finally saw instead of a hulking diamond Clow Card, a small black back piece of paper was lying in the small crater formed by the combined power of the Sailor Senshi.

"What happened to it?" asked Sailor Mars as she looked around the area for the missing enemy.

"We got it," answered Ami as she walked over and picked up the new Clow Card. "This is what we were fighting against," she explained as she held up the new Diamond Card for the other Senshi to see.

"This?" asked Mars rhetorically as she picked the Clow Card from Mercury's hand to take a closer look at it. "How can something so small cause so much trouble?"

"The card form of the Clow Cards are their dormant form," answered Sakura as she walked up to Ami and Rei. "What we were fighting is the true form of this particular Clow Card."

"And how many of these Clow Cards are there?" asked Sailor Uranus as she, Neptune, Pluto, Saturn, and the remaining Inner Senshi all came over to join Sakura and the others.

"I'm not entirely certain," answered Sakura. "There were fifty-two, well fifty-three if you count the Void, original Clow Cards. This particular card is from what we have been calling a second deck of Clow Cards. They were created unintentionally from excess energy from the creation of the original deck of Clow Cards. So far we have captured I believe twenty-two, right Ami-chan?"

"We've captured now twenty-one, and the twenty-second is the Heal," answered Ami.

"That's right," said Sakura. "Anyway, we don't know exactly how many more of these new Clow Cards are left because it is not a one-to-one ratio."

"What are these pictures on the card's face?" asked Neptune.

"These are images of the Bubbles, the Sand, and the Sweet Cards," answered Sakura.

"So that means this single card is made with the power of three of the regular Clow Cards?" asked Jupiter for clarification.

"That is the theory."

"What about power?" asked Mamoru. "Is each of these new cards equal in power to its original counterpart?"

"No," Sakura replied. "Each individual new Clow Card has more energy than the original power from which it was created."

"But more importantly," interrupted Usagi, who along with the other Senshi had all changed back to normal form. "What happened to my ring?"

"Oh yeah," said Ami as she sheepishly scratched the back of her head. "Well, it was actually the Clow Card. So technically your ring is in Mako-chan's hand right now."

"But I don't want an engagement card," whined Usagi. "I want my ring back."

"I'm sorry," said Ami. "But Heero-kun is the Master of this deck, so until he changes this card, it's not usable."

"There's nothing you can do?" Usagi asked as she stared at the new Diamond Clow Card.

"Well, I do have an idea," said Sakura softly. "But it's a long shot, so I really don't want to get your hopes up."

"I'd appreciate anything you can do, Kinomoto-san," pleaded Usagi. "I just really love that ring."

"What are you planning, Sakura-san?" asked Minako.

"Well, I was able to use one of Heero-kun's Clow Cards after it was changed, so I was thinking that possibly I can change one to his name myself."

"I guess that makes sense," agreed Minako.

"I'll take any chance I can get," Usagi added as she passed the Diamond Card to Sakura.

"Card Created by Clow," began Sakura as the Diamond Card began to glow. "Discard Your Old Form and be Reborn, Under the Name Heero, Your New Master." For a few seconds, the Clow Card continued to glow the slight white, apparently not changing. However, just when Sakura thought she had failed, the Diamond Card flashed with a bright energy, causing everyone to turn they eyes away. After giving their eyes a chance to readjust from the shock, Sakura and the Senshi all looked back at the Clow Card, which was no longer glowing, to find that picture was now of a large, clear gem, the borders had changed, and Sakura had indeed transformed the Diamond Card into a Heero Card.

"Did it work?" asked Usagi, who was pretty sure Sakura had done something considering the Clow Card looked so different.

"Amazingly, it did," Sakura answered. "Create a new ring for Tsukino-san. Diamond!" The Diamond Card glowed a dim opaque white, and suddenly the same ring the Diamond Card had previously been, materialized on Usagi's ring finger.

Squealing with delight, Usagi gave Sakura a tight hug of thanks, now that her ring was back. "Thank you so much, Kinomoto-san. I don't know what I would have done if I couldn't get it back."

"Of course, Tsukino-san," answered Sakura. "The Clow Cards are my responsibility and making up for the trouble it has caused you is the least I can do."

"It was not your fault in any way," stated Mamoru. "I was the one who bought the ring, remember."

"Your own magical energy was probably drawn to the magical energy being emitted from the Clow Card," explained Sakura.

"You seem to know a lot about this type of stuff," commented Setsuna.

"Syaoran-kun, Eriol-kun, and Kero-chan taught me a lot," Sakura responded. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I ever got your name."

"My apologies. My name is Meiou Setsuna. This is Tenou Haruka and Michiru Kaiou. And this," continued Setsuna as she gently played with Hotaru's hair. "This is Tomoe Hotaru."

"It's good to meet you. My name is Kinomoto Sakura."

"No offense," interrupted Usagi. "But can we wait until the day after tomorrow to discuss stuff. I'm getting married in the morning and I want all of you to be awake."

Everyone present laughed at Usagi's joke, but considering the time, they all understood where the comments came from. "You're right, Usagi-chan," agreed Ami. "Let's all get some sleep and we can continue this tomorrow night or the next day after Usagi's time in the light."

"Okay," said Makoto. "We'll see you all in the morning."

"Do you have rooms in the hotel?" asked Sakura to Setsuna, Haruka, Kaiou, and Hotaru.

"We made reservations," answered Kaiou. "We just need to check in."

"Okay. Then we'll see you all tomorrow morning."

"Good night everyone."

Tokyo, Japan Four Days Later

"Heero-kun! Syaoran-kun!" called out Sakura, as Heero and Syaoran exited the car after arriving back from the airport after their trip to Hong Kong. "I missed you." Sakura, Ami, Duo, and Minako had all arrived back at the dorm after their trip to Usagi and Mamoru's wedding a couple days earlier. The ceremony had been very beautiful, with Ami and the other Senshi each giving a short speech of congratulations during the reception following the ceremony, and Sakura actually catching the bouquet Usagi threw to finish off the night.

"I missed you too, Sakura-chan," answered Heero as he returned the kiss that Sakura initiated as she gave him a tight hug of greeting, although she was careful to avoid his injury. Heero's arm was still in a sling after it turned out that he had snapped a ligament in his shoulder after his fight with Syaoran about a month back.

"So how was the wedding?" asked Syaoran to Ami and Sakura after the Mercury Princess gave him a quick kiss after more casually following Sakura down the front steps of the dorm building.

"It was great!" answered Sakura before Ami could say anything.

"The ceremony was very beautiful," Ami added. "And it was great seeing Usagi-chan and the others again."

"How is Meilin-chan doing?" questioned Sakura. "And Li-sama?"

"Mother is well," Syaoran answered. "And Meilin says she misses all of you."

"We all miss her too. I can't wait to get another chance to see her."

"So I hear you captured and actually changed another Clow Card while we were gone," mentioned Syaoran, changing the subject.

"Yup!" answered Sakura proudly as she pulled out the Diamond Card. Sakura had told Heero all about the encounter, capture, and transformation of the Diamond Card through their telepathic link that same night the whole thing had happened. Heero had then mentioned the event to Syaoran, but as expected didn't bother to divulge much in terms of details, and Syaoran, figuring Sakura and Ami would tell him about it soon enough, didn't see it necessary to ask.

Sakura handed Heero the new Clow Card to put with his others, but when she was watching him put it with his others in his Deck she noticed something. Heero always kept his personal Clow Cards organized for easy access, with the already changed cards in front and the unchanged cards behind. The secondary organization was alphabetical, so when Heero was flipping to where Diamond would be placed, Sakura realized he was about to place it right in between the Control Card and the Doubt Card. Oddly enough, it appeared as though the two cards had been transformed by Heero. "You transformed the Control and the Doubt?" questioned Sakura.

Heero nodded. "The Elders wanted both Li and myself to work on our mental defenses," Heero explained. "I transformed both the Control and the Doubt so that we could do just that."

"Did you make any progress?" asked Ami.

"Some," Syaoran responded. "We are going to continue the training here."

"And that is going to be safe?"

"With the Control and the Doubt now under my control," Heero responded. "It is completely safe and there is nothing to worry about."

"Just don't get carried away," mentioned Sakura. "I don't know if we could stop you if both of you fall under Clow Card control."

"You doubtfully would be able to stop us," agreed Syaoran. "But we are in complete control, so there is no need to worry about that situation. But anyway, why don't you girls tell us more about your week."

Author's Notes:

I guess you are all used to me taking forever to update. Sorry about that. But anyhow, here's the end of Chapter 16. Hope you all like it. I can't guarantee that the next update will be any faster than this last one, but I wouldn't hold your breath. I try to update quickly, but being busy and all that, I don't have much time. Anyway, again, hope you all enjoy!


	52. Sakura's Electrifying Birthday

Chapter 17: Sakura's Electrifying Birthday

Southern Japan

"Only three more hours," whined Tomoyo as she stared at the clock reading 9:00. "How did I let you guys talk me into coming on this trip?"

"Because just like the rest of us," answered Ranma. "You need the extra credit."

"Too bad we aren't like Ami-chan and Li-kun and can miss as much class as they have and still get perfect scores," Minako added.

Due to a mix of Clow Cards popping up everywhere and the guys all being on not only the school soccer team, but also invitees for the Japanese National Team, the gang had missed a lot of classes. Both Ami and Syaoran were able to keep up their grades despite missing the class time, so were able to forgo going on the optional extra credit biology field trip. Eriol also had a high enough grade in the class to have chosen to skip the trip, but had decided to go anyway, just to keep the others company and help answer any questions they might have since Ami, their usual go-to brain, was not present. And since Sakura and Heero didn't have biology this year, that left them back at school with Ami and Syaoran.

"But why did the extra credit trip have to be this weekend? I am missing Sakura-chan's birthday!"

"Not to mention Yuy-kun's too," Ukyo added. "Can you believe they were born one day apart?"

"I still think I should have taken my C and stayed for Sakura-chan's birthday," Tomoyo continued to whine.

"You are the one who said your mother would force you to get a tutor if you got any C's," pointed out Eriol. "And though Mizuno-san could easily fill that roll for almost any class, it would still take away from your Sakura time."

"But it is Sakura-chan and Heero-kun's first birthday together, and I am missing it! Ami-san and Li-kun are so lucky they get to be there."

"Are Ami-chan and Li-kun celebrating with Sakura-chan and Yuy-kun?" questioned Minako. "Or is the couple spending the time alone together?"

"Sakura-chan said that she and Heero-kun are going to spend tonight alone together," Tomoyo answered. "But tomorrow the four are going to go out all together."

Tokyo, Japan

"Happy birthday," toasted Heero as he held up his glass of overpriced champagne.

"Happy birthday," replied Sakura with a smile as she clinked her glass lightly against Heero's.

Heero and Sakura were celebrating their birthdays at the highest rated French restaurant in Tokyo. Heero, with a little help from his aunt and the rest Li Clan, had managed to get a reservation at a quiet, secluded table near the fireplace at the luxurious restaurant. Once the Li Clan had gotten him the reservation, Heero planned out the rest of the meal, including the $900 bottle of Krug champagne, from the Clos du Mesnil vineyard. Heero had had a more or less unlimited budget his whole life, so was used to such luxurious items as the almost thousand dollar champagne, however, the most highly regarded champagne in the world was a completely new experience for Sakura. After taking a small sip, Sakura allowed the liquid to linger in her mouth a little while in an attempt to discover just what was so special about the lavish drink.

"You like it?" Heero asked, seeing that Sakura was deep in thought as she tasted the champagne.

Finally swallowing the bubbling wine, Sakura answered. "It's very nice," Sakura answered with a smile. "Although, seeing as how I've never even tasted regular champagne, it almost seems like a waste for me to be drinking such an expensive one."

The corner of Heero's mouth rose up in his patented half smile. "Nothing for you is ever a waste. Although, I will admit, there is a chance I may have just spoiled you from drinking any lesser champagne. There is really nothing quite like a Krug."

"Well, between you, Syaoran-kun, and Tomoyo-chan, I am surrounded by people who apparently have a limitless amount of money, so when I'm ever celebrating anything, the three of you are always there providing the best stuff." Heero smiled at the cuteness of his girlfriend, and then once again raised his glass and clinked it against Sakura's in celebration of their shared birthday.

Tokyo, Japan

"Okay," said Sakura into her phone. "We'll see you then." Sakura hung up and turned to Heero. "Ami-chan and Syaoran-kun are going to be a little late. The computer they were running their simulations on at school froze up and they lost some data, so they are going to be a little longer as they recreate it."

"I see," answered Heero. "They say how long they will be?"

"No," Sakura responded. "But knowing the two of them, it won't take them very long."

"True. Did you want to do anything in the meantime?"

"I'm pretty comfortable here," answered Sakura. "If it's alright with you, I'd rather just wait for them here."

"Anything you want," said Heero with a smile. "It is your birthday after all."

Sakura playfully stuck out her tongue at Heero before reaching her head up and giving him a quick kiss.

Sakura and Heero were currently sitting under a large tree in one of the park areas on their university campus. They had been scheduled to meet Ami and Syaoran for dinner and a movie, but given Ami and Syaoran's delay, Sakura and Heero would be waiting a while longer. Heero, in fact, had been waiting for quite a while before even Sakura had arrived. After their night out to celebrate their birthdays the night before, Sakura had decided to sleep in that morning. However, Heero had to meet with his chemistry partner early that morning to finish an isotope analysis. It was, in fact, the same assignment that Ami and Syaoran were currently working on themselves, only with a different isotope. Fortunately, Heero had been paired up with a partner who was very intelligent in his own right, so the two of them got through the project without much difficulty. Having finished a little earlier than expected, Heero decided to simply wait where he was supposed to meet Sakura and the others instead of going all the way back to his dorm.

"So did you sleep well last night?" Heero asked, having gotten up and left before Sakura had woken up.

Sakura smiled sheepishly up at Heero before answering. "I slept in kind of late, and then when I went back to my room to shower, I ended up going back to sleep in my own bed. I actually just got up a couple hours ago."

Heero chuckled slightly and gave Sakura a peck on the forehead.

"What?" questioned Sakura as she took notice of the peculiar expression Heero had on his face.

"Just admiring you," Heero answered. "And thinking about how much I lo…"

Before Heero could finish, both he and Sakura snapped their heads up, having felt a strong magical presence nearby. Inwardly, Sakura cursed a little, almost certain Heero was going to say that he loved her, something he had as of yet, never said to her before. But before he had gotten the words out, the magical presence, which felt like a Clow Card, had appeared.

"You feel it too?" asked Heero. To Sakura's disappointment, Heero was clearly not thinking about the comment he had been about to make before the Card showed up.

"I feel it," Sakura answered. "It's close, but doesn't seem to be that powerful."

Heero got up to his feet, pulling Sakura gently up with him. Heero hid the beginnings of a smile as he watched Sakura cutely pat her little butt to clean off the dirt from the ground. Returning his attention to the business at hand, Heero pulled out his Clow pendant. "Key that Hides the Power of Space. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Heero Command You Under Contract. Release!"

After watching Heero release his Clow Sword, Sakura followed suit and released her own wand. "Key that Hides the Power of the Stars. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Sakura Command You Under Contract. Release!"

Both Clow Masters armed and ready, Heero and Sakura scanned the area for signs of the Clow Card, but unfortunately they couldn't find it. "I don't see anything," commented Sakura as she momentarily dropped her guard.

"Look out!" warned Heero as he stepped in front of Sakura just in time to block an energy attack with his sword. "Strange," Heero commented after the attack.

"What is strange?"

"That attack. It was much weaker than I would have predicted."

"How were you able to see it anyway?" asked Sakura.

"I couldn't," Heero answered. "I felt the attack coming. It's something I have been working to perfect with Li."

"Wow!" exclaimed Sakura. "That's amazing."

"I still haven't perfected the technique yet. For some reason, when I use the skill it somehow takes some of my energy from my muscles to increase my magical awareness and as a result my reflexes and reactions are slowed a fraction."

"You seemed fast enough to me."

"No," stated Heero. "The attack was just slow and weak. Even if I hadn't blocked it, chances are it wouldn't have really hurt you much anyway."

"Oh."

"One more," said Heero casually as he blocked another attack.

"I still can't see where they are coming from."

"Neither can I, so we are going to have to work as a team."

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura.

"Your magical awareness is more acute than mine, so you concentrate your power and find the source of the attacks. Meanwhile, I'll cover you from the attacks so you can use your complete concentration to find the main body of the Clow Card."

"Okay," agreed Sakura with a nod before closing her eyes to concentrate on the Clow Card presence. She heard Heero deflecting a couple more invisible strikes before she was finally able to pinpoint the position of the Clow Card's main body. Sakura waited for a moment as she made certain she was right about the position, while simultaneously shuffling through her Clow Cards and pulling the correct one without even opening her eyes. "Watery!" Sakura called out as she released her water elemental Sakura Card. Sakura had noticed that every time Heero blocked an attack, it appeared as though a small amount of electricity was absorbed through his sword, leading Sakura to assume the Clow Card was electricity based.

The Watery Clow Card sped through the air towards the coordinates mentally transmitted by its Mistress until it impacted upon an invisible foe. The mixture of electricity from the Clow Card and the water from Sakura's elemental Card created a small electric explosion in the air.

"I see you found it," commented Heero.

Sakura just smiled at the rare showing of joking sarcasm by Heero before turning back to see her opponent become partially visible and fall to the ground with a thud. When Sakura saw the Clow Card, which appeared to look like an electric bird of some type, seemed unable to move anymore, she decided it was time to capture it. "I Sakura, Mistress of the Cards Command You. Return…"

Sakura stopped mid-sentence as suddenly both she and Heero felt a huge spike in power and the Clow Card flashed bright for a moment before taking off into the air and once again becoming invisible. "What was that?" questioned Sakura, standing dumbfounded and staring at the position the Clow Card had been in not two seconds ago.

"I think there is another Card in the area," Heero stated. "That magical surge felt slightly different than the original power, so I think another Card is here and is strengthening the one we have been fighting."

"So what should we do?"

"We use the same strategy we just used. You try to find the Card, and I'll cover you."

"Right," agreed Sakura before closing her eyes to concentrate.

Unfortunately for Heero and Sakura, their plan didn't work as well this time as it had the first. Mere moments after Sakura had closed her eyes, they bolted back open again as she felt a charge shoot through her body, causing a tingle, but no real pain. However, the attack was not as unsubstantial for Heero. With the upgraded power, Heero was unable to react fast enough to the new attacks, and his body was struck center mass by a much more powerful electric shock than those he had been blocking earlier. The charge had jumped just a slight amount of the power over to Sakura's body, which was why she felt only a small jolt, but the majority of the strike flooded Heero's nervous system, causing him great pain and forcing him to involuntarily drop his weapon and fall to his hands and knees.

"Heero-kun!" shouted Sakura as she saw her boyfriend and Clow Card partner fall to the ground. She immediately fell to her knees and bent over to help and check on Heero, but before she could even see his face, she too was struck by an electric bolt. Fortunately, the attack was much less powerful than the one Heero had taken, however, it was still strong enough to knock the Clow Mistress backwards onto the ground.

"Are you okay, Sakura-chan?"

"Just a little shaken up," answered Sakura. "But I'll be fine. We need to do something about our inability to see the attacks."

"I know," agreed Heero. "And I have an idea, although it has a certain level of risk to it. I'm not certain, but I believe this Clow Card we are fighting is some type of Lightning Card, probably made from the energy that was used to create your Thunder Card. Since it is still day, the brightness of the sky is making it impossible to see the strikes by the Clow Card. So I was thinking, if I can transform the Night Card, I can change the sky to night, and we should theoretically be able to see the attacks."

"But the Night Card is made from the powers of both the Light and Dark Cards. Even if you are able to transform it, there is a good chance that it will leave you incapacitated afterwards."

"That is the risk. But as it stands, I don't see any other options. Without being able to see the attacks, there is no way we are going to be able to dodge or block them, and then it is only a matter of time until we are defeated."

"I guess we have no other choice. I'll use the Shield to give us some cover. Hopefully it is powerful enough to stop an attack."

Heero nodded in agreement as he pulled out the Night Clow Card. "Card Created by Clow. Discard Your Old Form and be Reborn, Under the Name Heero; Your New Master."

Heero's Clow Sword and the unchanged Night Card, both began to glow as Heero's magical energy flowed from the mystic weapon into the Clow Card. While Sakura had the majority of her attention focused on her opponent, she made sure to keep the corner of her eye on Heero, and she could clearly see how hard Heero had to focus to change the powerful card. She could see that Heero's entire body was tensed and his legs were even shaking slightly, two signs of over exertion and physical struggle that Heero never showed. But it was also clear to Sakura that there was no way Heero would give up, and Heero would never let himself fail. Sakura desperately wanted to lend her power to Heero to help him transform the Night Card, just as Syaoran had done for her all those years ago when she was transforming the Light and Dark Cards, but she knew that if she diverted even a fraction of her energy from her Shield Card, the attacks from the opposing Clow Card would definitely break through.

Even though Heero had been expecting the Night Card to take an extreme amount of power to change, he was still surprised at just how much he had to exert himself. He could feel he was already at his limit, but it appeared he was still a little short on power. He could tell that Sakura was keeping an eye on his progress through her peripheral vision, and could feel her apprehension, obviously noticing that he was having trouble with his task. He could tell from her expression and from feeling her emotions, that Sakura wanted nothing more than to lend him her power, certain it would easily be enough energy to change the Card. Unfortunately, they both knew that without her full power, the Shield had no chance of stopping the electric attacks being thrown their direction. The Shield Card was already struggling slightly against the power of the enemy, and Heero wasn't sure that even with Sakura's full power behind the Shield, it would last indefinitely against the powerful attacks.

Fortunately, like most all the others, Heero's magic responded to desperation. His need to change the Night Card to protect not only himself, but also Sakura, caused his magical energy to dip into his own life force to give him the little power surge he needed to successfully change the Night. With an uncharacteristic shout, Heero unleashed just enough power for the Night to flash brightly, engulfing the entire area in a blinding white. When the light subsided and vision was possible again, the Night Card had been successfully changed. Replacing the split picture of Light and Dark, was a new image. A portrait of the Night Card's physical form, the shadowy figure that was half black and half white, now adorned the front of the Clow Card, and the back had changed from the pitch black, to the white back with Heero's magic circle. Unfortunately, however, the power required to change the Night Card had taken too much from Heero's magical and life energies, and before he could even release the new Heero Card, the Clow Master lost consciousness and fell to the ground.

Seeing Heero fall caused Sakura to break her concentration on the Shield Card, and she did so at just the wrong moment. An electric attack blasted through the magical defense barrier and, though fortunately weakened, impacted directly on the back of the distracted Card Mistress. Though the attack didn't hurt as much as it could have, the force was still strong enough to throw Sakura to the ground, causing her to land right near Heero, and directly in front of the newly changed Night Card. Sakura had to fight every urge in her body to keep from ignoring both the Night Card and the new Clow enemy and running over to her fallen boyfriend, but she knew she had a job to do, and even though she was running low on magical energy, the Clow Mistress took hold of the new Heero Card and turned to face her enemy.

"Night!" Sakura called out as she released the powerful Card. She watched as the true form of the Night Card emerged from the Clow Card and hovered in the air in front of its Mistress. Moments later, the sky began to darken, and within seconds, the area was pitch black and Sakura finally got a look at the upgraded Clow Card. From what Sakura could tell, it appeared that the lightning based Clow Card was the same as before, but this time there was a small transparent figure perched on the back of the electric bird. Sakura could only assume it was the power of this new Clow Card that was making the lightning attacks so much stronger.

Now that she could see the enemy, Sakura told herself that there was no way she would let Heero's effort go to waste. Deciding that her initial water attack was still the best opponent to electricity, Sakura again pulled out her Watery Card. "Watery!" called out Sakura as she released her water elemental Clow Card and directed it to attack the now visible foe. The Card Mistress watched the blue streak of the Watery Card follow the quick moving electric bird, gradually gaining ground until it impacted with a flash, right on target. Sakura was almost certain the result of the Watery attack would be the same as earlier, and was preparing to seal the new Clow Card, but unfortunately, when the light cleared and the Watery returned to its Mistress, the enemy was still hovering in air, apparently unfazed by the attack.

Sakura was so surprised by the ineffectiveness of her elemental Clow Card that she didn't realize it had decided to go on the offensive until too late. With only enough time to raise her arms and staff to protect her face, Sakura was struck center mass by a powerful lightning attack and sent sprawling to the ground. Grimacing in pain, Sakura managed to raise her head and take a look at her attacker apparently charging up for another attack. Knowing that in her shape there was no way she was going to be able to dodge an attack of any kind, Sakura closed her eyes and covered her head, awaiting the pain she knew was coming.

However, fortunately for the Card Mistress, what caused her eyes to snap open and her head to jerk up was not pain, but instead was a very familiar voice. "Bubble Spray Freezing!"

Arriving just in time to see her friend about to be attacked, Ami Mizuno immediately transformed into Sailor Mercury and used her powers to create a shield of ice in front of the injured Card Mistress. The lightning bolt impacted hard against the ice shield, but the Mercury defense held strong, cracking slightly, but keeping all the energy away from Sakura.

While Ami had transformed into Sailor Mercury and used her Senshi powers for defensive purposes to protect Sakura, Syaoran decided to go on the offensive. Seeing the apparent electrical qualities of the new Clow Card opponent, Syaoran decided now would be a perfect time to try out the new powers he had been working to perfect. Swiftly calling his sword out from the pendant around his neck, Syaoran then pulled out a magical note, something he didn't need to use anymore with his other powers, and used his newly cultured water abilities. "God of Water, Come Forth!" As Syaoran struck the blade of his sword against the magical note, a powerful spray of water sprang forth and flew directly at the Clow Card. Having been distracted by its attack on the Card Mistress and the subsequent arrival of the Mercury Ice Shield, the Clow Card took notice of Syaoran's water attack much too late to dodge it effectively. All the Clow Card could to was rotate its body to keep the attack away from its center mass. The end result was a direct impact on one of the wings of the electric bird, knocking it off balance, but unfortunately not defeating it completely. However, it was completely clear that the attack did have some effect on the enemy as the Clow Card was now sparking from what appeared to be a possible loss of energy.

Ami, Syaoran, and Sakura all took notice of weakened state of the Clow Card, and without saying a word, all knew this would be their best chance to finish off the enemy and agreed to all attack at the same time. Sakura pulled out her Watery Card, Syaoran pulled out his water elemental magical note, and Ami prepared her own Senshi attack. All at once, the three teens released their water elemental attacks.

"Watery!"

"God of Water, Come Forth!"

"Mercury Aqua Mirage!"

The three water attacks converged on the injured Clow Card, who made absolutely no attempt to dodge, and impacted with extreme force. Due to the power of the three combined attacks and it's already wounded state, the Clow Card fell unceremoniously to the ground and lay motionless.

"Now, Sakura," stated Syaoran.

Sakura nodded and prepared to get to work. "I Sakura, Mistress of the Cards Command You. Return to Your True Form. Clow Card!" This time, Sakura's attempt to seal the Clow Card worked just as it was supposed to. The bird form Clow Card glowed a bright white before transforming into a pair of Clow Cards. The two Clow Cards flew over to the Card Mistress who grasped them at the same time that the Night Card returned to its Card form and the sky became light once again. Without even bothering to look at the new Clow Cards she had captured, Sakura ran over to where Ami and Syaoran were already kneeling by Heero's unconscious form.

"Is he okay?" a worried Sakura asked Ami, who was using her medical knowledge to look Heero over.

"I think he'll be fine," Ami answered with a look of relief on her face. "He's unconscious, but his breathing and heart rate are both steady. My guess is he simply used up too much energy again and just needs time to recover."

"It is probably just from all the magical energy that was likely required to change the Night Card," Syaoran stated, having noticed the powerful Clow Card's effects without difficulty.

"Thank goodness," Sakura said with a heavy sigh, her own magical and emotional expenditures beginning to take their toll.

"Are you alright, Sakura-chan?" questioned Ami, seeing Sakura's shoulders slump slightly and her eyes flutter, two obvious signs of exhaustion.

"Just a little worn out is all," Sakura responded. "But I'll be fine. Just need some rest once we get back to the rooms."

"Then let's head out," said Syaoran as he picked up Heero's unconscious body.

"So what were the new Cards?" Ami asked once they were on their way.

Sakura pulled the two unchanged new Clow Cards out from her pocket to take a look at them. "Looks like the Lightning and the Air. Lightning is pretty obvious, but I guess the Air is the one that gave the Lightning that extra boost of energy."

"This one is the picture of the Windy Card right?" checked Ami as she pointed to the Air. "And this is Thunder?"

"Yup. I guess both those make sense." Sakura put the two Clow Cards back in her pocket and then without really realizing what she was doing, reached up and rubbed her eyes a bit to try to wake herself up a little. Though Sakura could probably have made it back without help, Ami gently wrapped her arm around Sakura's waist to help steady her anyway.

"By the way," began Ami. "Happy birthday." Sakura could only laugh at Ami's kindheartedness and gave her Senshi friend a hug as the friends made their way back to the dorms to recover, their plans for the night completely forgotten.

Author's Notes:

Okay, so it's been like a year since I last updated, and this isn't even that long of an update. I've been working, but like I've been saying, I've been really busy and just don't have as much time as I would like to write and think of ideas. But, to those of you who still read my fic, even though it takes me forever to update, I appreciate the support and just know that eventually it should get finished. In case anyone is wondering, there are going to be a total of probably six more chapter, split into I'm not sure how many sections, plus an Epilogue. So, if you all just stay patient with me, I'll get as much done as quickly as I possibly can.


	53. Sakura's Fantasy Come True Part I

Chapter 18: Sakura's Fantasy Come True

Tokyo, Japan

"You awake?" whispered Heero into Sakura's ear. Sakura was resting against Heero's chest as the couple sat under a large tree in the middle of a secluded area of forest nearby to where Heero kept his Gundam. Sakura didn't bother responding with words, instead she merely purred quietly to indicate she wasn't sleeping. "Do you remember a couple months ago when we captured the Lightning and Air Cards?"

"I remember," said Sakura, a little confused as to why Heero would bring up that fight all of a sudden.

"There was something I wanted to say before the cards showed up, and right now seems like a perfect time to say it." Knowing Heero couldn't see, Sakura let a wide smile cross her face. She knew exactly what Heero was about to say to her, and she had been waiting impatiently for the last two months to hear the magical words. "I love you, Kinomoto Sakura. With all my heart."

Sakura whipped her head around and gave Heero a deep passionate kiss. When she finally broke the kiss, Sakura left her arms wrapped tightly around Heero's neck and placed her lips near to his ear. "I love you too, Heero-kun. With all my heart."

"Then," began Heero as he pulled away just slightly from the beautiful Card Mistress. Bringing one of his hands between them, Heero handed Sakura a very small velvet box. Sakura slowly opened the gift and her eyes went wide when she saw the contents. Inside the box was a small white gold ring adorned with a flawless princess-cut diamond. "Will you marry me?"

Sakura was speechless for several moments, her eyes darting between the gorgeous piece of jewelry and the deepness of Heero's cobalt blue gaze, while her brain struggled to comprehend what had just happened. After what seemed like an eternity, Sakura's brain finally returned to reality. "Yes!" squealed Sakura as she pulled Heero into yet another deep passionate kiss. "Yes, I will marry you."

Heero smiled a genuine smile and carefully plucked the engagement ring from the box and slowly slid it onto Sakura's finger. Once Heero had finished putting the ring on Sakura' hand, she held her hand in front of her face to take another look at her new engagement ring. In front of her eyes, the diamond slowly changed color just slightly to become a light pink. Watching the diamond change color made Sakura unconsciously smile as she realized it was the same type of diamond that her necklace was made from. Sakura closed her eyes and grasped her necklace with her hand. When she opened her eyes again she stared deeply into Heero's gaze. "I love you so much, Heero-kun."

"And I love you, Sakura-chan. Now and forever." The newly engaged couple stayed in each other's embrace for hours before finally deciding to head back home.

Sanc Kingdom Three Months Later

"You look so beautiful," commented Ami.

Even though it was probably the hundredth time she had heard it in the day, Sakura still blushed and avoided eye contact at the compliment. "Thanks, Ami-chan." Sakura was in one of the many luxurious bedrooms of the Peacecraft Castle with all of her friends, getting ready for her wedding. The ceremony was scheduled to begin in under an hour, and while she was unquestionably ecstatic at the fact that she was marrying Heero, the magnitude of the whole situation was finally starting to hit her.

It was only a short three months ago that Heero had changed her life and proposed marriage to her on that beautiful evening in the forest, and since that day, Sakura's life had moved at the speed of light. Fortunately, Heero had proposed at the end of the school year, so Sakura had been able to get through the last of her classes without much distraction. However, once summer hit, it was anything but a vacation for the Card Mistress. That is not to say that Sakura disliked the work or regretted her decision of agreeing to marry Heero, but she had been wholly unprepared for just how much work went into planning a wedding. And to make matters worse, Sakura's wedding wasn't a normal wedding either. She was marrying into the prestigious Li Clan, where tradition was very valuable and the ceremonies for an occasion such as the wedding of one of the future leaders of the Clan were extremely extensive.

The original plan was to have the wedding in Tokyo somewhere, however, when Princess Relena found out about the wedding she immediately suggested the Peacecraft castle for the ceremony, and along with her offer to help fly the guests to the Sanc Kingdom, the gesture was just too nice to pass up. Of course, Princess Relena was not the only friend helping Sakura with all the planning. Her best friend Tomoyo was an invaluable resource, assisting Sakura with everything from a guest list, to creating her the perfect wedding dress. Ami and the other roommates also helped Sakura as much as they could, although Tomoyo, who had been looking forward to this day her whole life, unintentionally left the other girls in a totally different league, leaving them to mainly be supportive when Sakura felt overwhelmed. For the majority of the Li Clan ceremonies, Syaoran's mother, Yelan, along with Meilin, took care of all the details and preparation letting Sakura focus her time elsewhere.

Despite all the help, however, Sakura was still busy as a bee the entire summer, and it wasn't until the few hours she got to relax before the ceremony, that she could really take it all in. As Sakura scanned the room, she couldn't help but marvel a little at how the most magical day of her life was unfolding. Just like any little girl, Sakura had always dreamed about her wedding day. However, she had always pictured having a normal small ceremony filled with family and friends. And not that it made her unhappy in any way, but her real wedding was turning out to be just the opposite. The guest list was easily four hundred people long, close to half of whom were Li Clan members and associates that Sakura had never met before in her life. The location of the wedding was at a magnificent castle in a foreign country, and just by looking around the room, it was clear this occasion was anything but ordinary. Not only was she a powerful sorceress as the Mistress of the Clow Cards, but she was surrounded by two Sailor Senshi in her roommates Ami and Minako, a powerful leader of the Li Clan in Li Yelan, the daughter of the CEO of one of the most profitable companies in Japan in her best friend Tomoyo, and the ruler and Princess of her own country in Relena Peacecraft. And that was only the females that were involved in the wedding. On the other side was the groom, the Master of the Clow Cards and a leader of the Li Clan in Heero, his cousin and also a powerful magician in his own right in Syaoran, four elite soldiers who pilot the most powerful weapons on the planet in Heero's comrades Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and Wu-Fei, and the reincarnation of Clow Reed himself in Eriol. Then you add in the guests, and the list gets ridiculous. In addition to all the members of the Li Clan, including all five elders, there was also the other Sailor Senshi, including all the Outer Senshi, Sailor Moon's husband, Tuxedo Mask, Sakura's own guardians Kero and Yue, although Yue was currently in the form of Yukito, and the Prince of the Sanc Kingdom, Milliardo Peacecraft. And on top of all this there were still all of Sakura's friends and family from Tomoeda and from college, as well as some of Heero's comrades from different parts of the world.

To the untrained eye, Sakura looked perfectly normal, but both Tomoyo and Ami knew the sweet girl well enough to know that something was bothering her. Even though all the girls in the room were close to the Card Mistress, neither Ami or Tomoyo wanted to bring up the issue with Sakura until they had some privacy. Fortunately, since Ami and Tomoyo were the only two bridesmaids, a decision that was made mainly so that Heero would only need to pick a pair of groomsmen, all the two girls had to do was tell everyone else that they should get to their seats before the ceremony was to begin. Once all the girls were gone, Ami and Tomoyo went to Sakura, each sitting on either side of her.

"What's wrong, Sakura-chan?" asked Tomoyo.

"Nothing at all," Sakura replied, smiling, although she doubted her smile would fool her best friend.

"Sakura-chan. You aren't fooling anyone. Now tell us what's bothering you."

"Are you getting nervous about marrying Heero-kun?"

"No!" stated Sakura emphatically. "Well, not exactly. I want to marry Heero-kun more than anything else in my life…"

"So then what is the problem?" Ami questioned when Sakura stopped speaking.

"What if…" Sakura began. "What if Heero-kun gets bored with me?"

"Sakura-chan," consoled Tomoyo as she gave her best friend a hug. "You know as well as anyone that that will never happen."

"Heero loves you," added Ami. "Probably more than life itself. I know you will be happy together for years and years to come."

"Thanks guys. I guess since I have been so busy planning everything lately that I hadn't had any time to think. And now that I have a moment, I was getting a little nervous."

"I think every bride has a moment of doubt before they get married, but the trick is just to know how you feel about each other, and to know this is truly what both of you desire from the bottom of your hearts."

"You're right, Ami-chan," said Sakura. "I'm so lucky I have you guys."

"We love you, Sakura-chan."

"And only want what's best for you."

"I love you guys too," said Sakura as she pulled both girls into a loving group embrace.

A moment later there was a knock at the door and Ranma poked his head in. "Everybody decent?"

"Come on in, Ranma-kun," Tomoyo replied.

"You look beautiful, Sakura-san."

"Thank you, Ranma-kun," Sakura answered shyly as always when someone complimented her. "How is Heero-kun?"

"You know him," answered Ranma with a shrug. "As Duo would say, he's the perfect soldier."

"You know he really is very sweet," said Sakura.

"When you are around, sure. He loves you. But when he's with only us, he always has up that cold exterior. Anyway, Li-sama and Princess Relena told me to come let you know that everything is ready and we can begin as soon as you are set, Sakura-san. Or should I start calling you Yuy-san?" joked Ranma, causing Sakura to blush at the sound of having her name being the same as Heero's. "Or maybe Li-san, since you will be a part of the Li Clan after all."

"Yuy Sakura-chan," said Tomoyo to herself. "I like it. It's cute, just like you, right Yuy Sakura-chan?"

"Tomoyo-chan…" whined an embarrassed Sakura.

"You can tell everyone that we are set, Saotome-kun," said Ami, who was also smiling at the thought of Sakura taking Heero's name. "We will be there momentarily."

"Sure thing. And Sakura-san, Yuy really is a lucky guy, so enjoy yourself today."

Before she could even respond, Ranma was out the door and Sakura was left staring, realizing just how great all of her friends really were. "Yuy Sakura, huh?" whispered Sakura to herself, causing an unconscious smile to begin to form upon her lips.

"What was that, Sakura-chan?" questioned Tomoyo, who was pretty sure what Sakura had mumbled to herself, but liked to have fun with her best friend.

"No-nothing," stuttered Sakura as a bit of a blush spread across her cheeks. "We should get going. we don't want to keep everyone waiting."

"Getting impatient to see Heero-kun, or shall I call him your new husband?"

"Tomoyo-chan…"

Tomoyo giggled before pulling Sakura into a hug. "I'm so happy for you, Sakura-chan. I love you so much."

"I love you too, Tomoyo-chan."

"Ready?" asked Ami from the doorway after the two best friends had finished their embrace.

Sakura took a deep breath and then replied. "Ready."

The walk from Sakura's room to the reception hall, although not especially far, felt like it took an eternity. Despite the fact that Tomoyo and Ami had substantially calmed her down, this was still the biggest day in the young girl's life, and she knew it. Upon reaching the lavish reception hall where the ceremony was to be held inside the Peacecraft Castle, Sakura took a peak inside. Although she had seen the list of all the people coming to the wedding, she hadn't really realized just how many people were going to be there. She knew exactly how long the list was, but until she saw the spacious room filled to capacity with over four hundred people, at least half of whom Sakura was embarrassed to admit she had never met, did the girl really come to grips with just how large of a wedding it was going to be. The Card Mistress was able to spot a good number of her friends amongst the crowd, but couldn't quite see up to the very front where her family was sitting. She did see Heero standing with Syaoran and Duo at the front of the room, looking calm and collected as always. Even though everybody had told her it was bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other before the wedding, Sakura couldn't help but say hello to the love of her life.

"_Heero-kun,"_ said Sakura telepathically.

At hearing Sakura's voice in his head, Heero looked up. He didn't physically show it, but he was just the slightest bit surprised, since he could tell she was very close by. He had figured he would have noticed the moment she entered the room, if not by feeling, then definitely by the commotion it would cause, considering she was definitely the girl of the hour. Heero scanned the room, doing two sweeps before he finally caught a glimpse of his bride-to-be's giggling face peeking through a crack in the doors at the far end of the room. Heero couldn't keep a half smile from crossing his lips when he caught sight of the love of his life. _"Sakura…"_

Sakura hadn't been able to keep herself from giggling when she felt Heero's confusion. Because Heero wasn't normally an overly emotional guy, Sakura had gotten fairly accustomed to being able to sense the rare few times Heero had mood or mental changes. _"I know everybody says it is bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other before the wedding, but I kind of just wanted to hear your voice."_

"_I missed you too,"_ responded Heero. _"But I understand all the preparations are complete, so whenever you are ready, I believe we can begin, and then we won't have to be separated for any longer."_

"_Hai. I will see you up there soon!"_

"_I can't wait."_ Heero paused for a moment until he saw Sakura duck her head back out of the doorway opening. _"My beautiful new bride."_

At hearing Heero call her both beautiful and his bride, Sakura blushed such an incredibly bright shade of red, she was almost certain Ami and Tomoyo could tell, despite having her white silk veil now draped in front of her face. Fortunately for the Card Mistress, the two bridesmaids didn't notice, or at least chose not to comment on, the bride's cherry red colored cheeks. Instead, when the doors to the reception hall opened and the music started playing, the two lovely girls started their walk down the aisle, followed a minute later by the beautiful bride. As Sakura made her way down the center aisle of the room full of people, she found herself exceptionally glad to have a veil covering her face. Her blush from Heero's earlier comment had still yet to recede, and seeing the faces of hundreds of people staring at her as she glanced from side to side, wasn't helping any. Sakura almost wished she had asked Tomoyo and the others, who had been helping her get ready, to put on more makeup to hide the current color of her cheeks, but Sakura had never liked wearing makeup, and with her natural beauty and flawless complexion, she didn't need it anyway. Using a technique Syaoran had taught her years ago, Sakura cleared her mind in hopes of relieving some of the color in her face, however, once she reached the front alter, it turned out to be unnecessary, as the shock completely cleared out all her embarrassment. Sitting in the front row, right between her father and her older brother was the one person in the world she would never have expected to see.

"Okaasan?"

Author's Notes:

Surprise, I'm still alive! So here's my like once per year update. I would update faster, but like I say every time, I just don't have as much time as I would like. Plus it doesn't really help that me and the main person I was always writing this for have kinda drifted apart, so I lost a lot of my interest in writing my stories. But that's not really important, so yeah, here's the update, and another one will come eventually.


	54. Sakura's Fantasy Come True Part II

Newport City, Sanc Kingdom

Despite all the rehearsals and walkthroughs of the ceremony that Sakura had been through, at the sight of her mother, she completely forgot what she was supposed to do, and instead went straight over and tightly embraced the woman she never really knew. "Okaasan!" Sakura exclaimed, tears of unimaginably joy forming in her bright green orbs.

Kinomoto Nadesico smiled lovingly as she looked down upon her beautiful daughter. "Sakura-chan."

"What are you doing here?"

"How could I miss my only daughter's wedding?"

"But-,"

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan," said Nadesico softly. "Now go and get married. I had a chance to meet Heero-kun earlier, and he is a very good man. You don't want to keep him waiting."

"I love you, Okaasan."

"I love you too, Sakura-chan." Sakura finally released her grasp on her mother and, while carefully dabbing away her tears of joy, made her way back up to Heero at the altar.

"Surprised?" asked Heero once Sakura had reached her spot at the altar.

Sakura smiled and laughed slightly. "That would be an understatement."

"I was going to tell you earlier, but I didn't want your mother, or myself, to miss that look on your face."

"If it wasn't already before, now this is definitely the best day of my life," said Sakura. "I love you so much, Heero-kun."

Heero looked down at Sakura and was happy when he saw her smile, but then he caught glimpse of her eyes. "What's wrong?" Heero asked quietly when he noticed the lack of sparkle in the Card Mistress' eyes.

"Absolutely nothing. Things couldn't be any more perfect," replied Sakura, smiling a little wider.

"Sakura," Heero stated.

Sakura knew she wasn't fooling anyone and she let her smile drop. "I know this isn't real."

"What are you talking about?"

"I know this isn't real, Heero-kun."

In a flash, the entire room, along with everyone in it, disappeared, and Sakura was left alone with Heero in a sea of white. "How long have you known?"

"Since the beginning," Sakura answered.

"And yet you didn't stop it?"

"I was happy. Everything you created is exactly what I wanted."

"Then why?"

"Because this isn't real. It is a dream. And although this dream is absolutely perfect, and I know I cannot have everything in real life that I can have here, I can't trade away my life for a fantasy."

"But in here you can have back your mother. You can marry the one you love. You can live happily ever after."

"But this happily ever after is not living. I know I can't meet my mother in real life. I know I may never have the picture perfect wedding and life I can have in here. But life is something that must be lived. I will take all the bad along with all the good. But I will not sacrifice my future for a fantasy."

"Do you truly wish to abandon this fantasy and go back to the real world?"

Sakura nodded her head slowly. "I do."

In a puff of smoke, the body of Heero disappeared and was replaced by a small fairy like figure whom Sakura recognized as looking very similar to the Sleep Clow Card. "If you truly do not wish to have this life, I will send you back."

"I do," responded Sakura with no hesitation. "This life is perfect. But it isn't my life. And a person must always take the bad along with the good. To me, a life that is perfect but not real, is not life."

"Very well, Mistress. But I am at your service should you change your mind."

Sakura smiled brightly at the Clow Card. "I won't."

Sakura wasn't certain, but she could swear she saw the little Clow Card smile back at her before her world turned to black.

Tokyo, Japan

Sakura slowly opened her eyes as she came back to reality. She found herself sitting at her desk, with her head resting in her open math book. Sakura scanned the room for a few moments, feeling very confused as the memories of her dream began to slowly return to her mind. It took Sakura a minute for her mind to determine what in her memory had been part of the dream, and what was reality. But eventually she remembered that she had been doing her math homework alone in her room when she had felt the presence of a Clow Card. She realized, to some level of disappointment, that the entire memory of being engaged to Heero and meeting her mother, had been a result of the Clow Card. It was at this point that she caught sight of the Clow Card lying face down on the floor near to her chair. Sakura bent down and picked up the black back Clow Card. The Card Mistress flipped over the Card and examined it. "The Fantasy," read Sakura aloud to herself. Sakura recognized the new Clow Card as being made up of three of the original Clow Cards; the Cloud, the Sleep, and the Dream. As Sakura stared at the new Clow Card, all the memories from when she was in the Fantasy world floated to the front of her mind, and the Card Mistress couldn't keep a smile from creeping across her lips. "It was a good dream though."

Knowing there was no way she was going to get her concentration back on her math book, Sakura placed the new Fantasy Card in her pocket and left her room to go find out what everyone else was doing.

Tokyo, Japan, One Month Later

Sakura walked in through the door into the girls' apartment and plopped down on the couch with a sigh. She was still wearing her beautiful white sequin dress, of course created by her best friend Tomoyo, but didn't care that at the moment she was wrinkling the masterpiece.

"Still not yet?" asked Ami, who had been reading alone in the suite, waiting for Sakura to get back before going next door to spend the night with Syaoran.

"No," stated Sakura with a hint of annoyance and sadness in her voice. "It's been over a month!"

"Don't worry," consoled Ami, who closed her book and moved over to the couch to let Sakura fall over and let her head fall into Ami's lap. "You know Heero does things in his own way and always waits for moments to be just about perfect before acting."

"I know. I guess I am just a little impatient because it got me so excited."

It had been just over a month since Sakura's encounter with the Fantasy Card. She had given the new Clow Card to Heero, since it was a part of his set of cards, but she had avoided telling him about the dream itself. Fortunately for her, Heero hadn't pressed her on the issue, as she was quite embarrassed to try to explain about how they were engaged to be married in her fantasy. She had told Ami, Tomoyo, and the rest of the girls the entire story, trusting all of them to keep it a secret from Heero and the guys. However, ever since that day, Sakura had been waiting impatiently for Heero to tell her he loved her. She wasn't expecting an engagement proposal like what had happened in her time in the Fantasy Card's world, but she was still wanted to hear the 'I love you,' especially since he had been so close to saying it on the day they had fought the Lightning and Air Cards. Sakura knew, deep in her heart that she loved Heero, and had considered just telling him herself, but in the end, she decided she really wanted to hear him say it first.

University had just ended for the semester, leaving the campus very deserted. Everyone except Ami, Syaoran, Sakura, and Heero had already left for their summer destinations. Eriol had gone back to England and had brought Ukyo along, since she had always dreamed of seeing more of the world, and really didn't have anything better to do. Neither Duo or Minako really had anywhere to be for the summer break, so had decided to go traveling for the vacation. They had left in the Deathscythe Gundam a couple days ago, their first destination being the Middle East, where Duo and Heero's friend, Quatre Raberba-Winner, was residing.

Ranma and Tomoyo, to both their disappointments, where actually spending the summer apart. Ranma was going back to Nerima, as his father had decided Ranma's martial arts were getting sloppy and he needed to get back to rigorous training, and Ranma had to agree that he was right. Meanwhile, Ranma's pseudo-sister, Tendo Nabiki, had gotten Tomoyo an internship working for one of Italy's biggest fashion designers, and the opportunity was just way too good for her to pass up. Tomoyo had gotten Nabiki a job working for her mother, and with her own skills and talents, Nabiki had impressed a lot of people, including Tomoyo's mother, and had therefore risen through the ranks of the company at an exceptionally fast rate. It was through a company deal that Nabiki had met the designer and she had gotten Tomoyo the internship as a sort of thank you for getting her the initial opportunity at the company.

Heero, Sakura, and Syaoran were also leaving Tokyo in a few days, with Heero and Sakura heading back to the Sanc Kingdom and Syaoran going home to Hong Kong. Ami was the only one in the entire group who was going to be staying in Tokyo over break. She was going to be working at her mother's hospital for the summer, her status as a college student and being over the age of 18, finally allowing for her to do much more at the hospital than she had previously been allowed to do.

Over the last couple months, nothing exciting had really happened to the group. With the exception of Sakura's encounter with the Fantasy Card, no new Clow Cards had shown up, and for the most part, everyone had just enjoyed the peace and quiet. The only problem was that peace and quiet also gives people time to think, which is exactly what Sakura was doing. After Heero had recovered from the Lightning and Air Card fiasco, Sakura began to think a lot about those three little words Heero had almost said, before getting interrupted, which was probably the basis for her dream when under the influence of the Fantasy Card. She had told all the girls the story of how Heero had been about to tell her that he loved her along with her dream in the Fantasy Card's realm, and since that day all the other girls had been giddy with excitement at the prospect of the emotionless perfect soldier actually admitting to being in love.

"So other than the lack of 'I love you'," began Ami. "How was the rest of your night?"

"It was nice," said Sakura with a genuine smile. "We had a really nice dinner and then just walked around the park for a while."

"Sounds wonderful. And you are going back over there to sleep after you change?"

"Yup," Sakura answered with a nod as she got off the couch and started walking toward her room. "You heading over to Syaoran-kun's now?"

"Yeah. I was just waiting for you to get back before going over."

"You must be a little sad that you two aren't going to see much of each other over the summer," Sakura said softly, knowing that even though she didn't show it, Ami was probably quite disappointed that she was going to be separated from Syaoran for such an extended period of time.

"I am," Ami replied with a bit of a sad look on her face. "But we both have known for some time that we would be spending this time apart, so we have had plenty of time and opportunity to get used to the situation. Besides, there is still the phone and letters, and it will just make it all the more special when we do get to see each other again at the end of the break."

Sakura smiled at the blue haired girl. "I wish I had your strength. I think I would miss Heero-kun so much that I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I know it is probably not good that I am so attached and almost dependent on him, but I've gotten so used to being able to feel him nearby that I begin to feel lost without him."

"Well, you and Heero-kun do have a bit of a different bond than normal people. So it is probably natural for you to be unconsciously more dependent on one another."

"I guess that is true," conceded Sakura. "But I think Heero-kun is a little more self-sufficient than I am."

Ami laughed just the slightest bit as an image of Heero acting needy came to her mind. "Well, Heero-kun is Heero-kun. He's a soldier, even if he no longer fights in battle anymore. I doubt he really even knows how to depend on others." Ami paused for just a moment before continuing. "Although, over the past year, his demeanor has changed dramatically. And everyone knows that it is because of you. So although to an outsider it may not seem that he is dependent or attached to you, to those of us that know him, the Heero-kun of today, is completely symbiotic with your presence."

Sakura couldn't help but blush at Ami's comments. There was nothing that Ami had said that was really new news to her, but to hear someone say it out loud and to put it in such a way as Ami just had, made Sakura feel unbelievably special, and it made her love for Heero feel that much stronger. Sakura went back over to the couch and gave Ami a tight hug. "Thank you, Ami-chan. I know it may not make much sense, but somehow, what you just said, it really means the world to me."

Ami knew there was nothing for her to say, and simply returned the embrace of the girl who had become one of the most important people in the world to the Mercury Princess, despite not even knowing her for a full year yet.

"You don't start at the hospital until next week, right?" Sakura asked after releasing the embrace she had with her friend.

"Yeah. Not until a couple days after the rest of you leave," Ami confirmed. "Why do you ask?"

"When Heero-kun and I were walking around earlier, we saw that they are setting up for a summer festival not far from here, and according to the flyers, the opening night is tomorrow. I was thinking that the four of us could go to the festival before Syaoran-kun has to go back to Hong Kong."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," agreed Ami. "I will ask Syaoran-kun tonight to make sure he didn't have something else already planned, but I'm pretty sure tomorrow is good."

"Great! It should be lots of fun. I haven't been to a summer festival for years."

"Neither have I. Not since junior high, I think," concurred Ami, thinking for a minute. "I wonder what I should wear though. I don't think I have a yukata with me."

Sakura frowned slightly, remembering that she too did not think to bring the traditional summer clothing item with her to school. "I don't think I have one either. It is too bad Tomoyo-chan already left. She probably had some extras stored away somewhere." Mere moments after Sakura's thought, her phone started to ring, inciting a quiet yelp of surprise from the young girl. Looking down at the caller ID, a quizzical expression appeared on Sakura's face as she brought the small electronic device to her ear. "Tomoyo-chan?"

"I left you a couple new yukatas in your closet that I had been working on for you. Ami-san is only a little bigger than you, so one of them should fit her too."

"How did you know we were -" began Sakura before realizing the answer herself. "Did you leave that spy camera Heero-kun gave you here so that you could spy on us?"

"Of course!" cheerily replied Tomoyo. "You are my favorite subject after all."

"T-Tomoyo-chan…" Sakura whined in embarrassment.

"Oh, I have to get going. Have fun at the festival! And say hi to Ami-san for me! Bye, bye!"

Before Sakura could even respond, Tomoyo had hung up the phone and Sakura found herself listening to a dial tone. Slowly putting her phone away, her face still beet red from embarrassment, Sakura turned to Ami. "That was Tomoyo-chan. She says she left two yukatas for me in my closet. Since we are relatively close in size, we should each be able to wear one."

"She really does love videotaping you, doesn't she?" said Ami, more rhetorically to herself than as a real question.

"She's been like that since she got her first camera back in elementary school. It's embarrassing, but I love Tomoyo-chan, and it makes her happy, so I'm fine with it."

"She is quite a character. But she is a good person, and she is definitely a great friend." No sooner had Ami finished speaking when her phone beeped, indicating she had received a text message. Grabbing her phone and checking the message, Ami's face immediately colored as she read the 'Thanks Ami-chan!' text message she had just received from Tomoyo. Sakura couldn't help but laugh when Ami showed her the message, with the Mercury Princess joining in soon after. "Yup. Definitely a character."

When the two girls finally stopped giggling, they gave each other a hug goodnight, and Ami made her way over to Syaoran's and Sakura finally made her way into her room to change. After changing, Sakura skipped over to the guys' dorm room and hopped into Heero's bed, snuggling tightly against her boyfriend as he put down the book he had been reading while waiting for her to arrive. After a quick good night kiss and a recap of her idea about the summer festival, Sakura was soon fast asleep, the warmth of Heero's body heat and his magical aura allowing the girl to slumber deeply and peacefully throughout the night.

Author's Notes:

So I'm back, finally. I know this section is really short again, but hey, better short than nothing, right? As usual, still barely have time to sleep, let alone write, so things go real slow. But I guess that happens when you have a job instead of being able to screw around while in school. Anyway, hopefully I'll be back sooner or later with another update, but like usual, don't hold your breath. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy.

By the way, in case anyone is interested, once I finish this particular chapter (which will be one more section), there will be probably only two, possibly three, more chapters (again, split into two or three sections) before the story is finished. I have the plot all worked out, so now it is just a matter of writing it. So my goal is to finish the entire story, no matter how long it takes, because I don't want to be one of those writers who writes most of a story and then just doesn't bother to bring it all together. And as for the ending, I have two different possibilities in mind, one of which is happy, the other not quite as much. If anyone has a preference between a happy or slightly tragic ending, let me know and maybe it'll help me decide which route to take.


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